The BSE benchmark Sensex fell for the third straight day today, losing 130 points to 17,463.04, despite a dip in food inflation as investors remained unsure of strong corporate earnings in the face of high interest rates.

Besides, high oil prices and a widening probe in the spectrum scam dampened the investor sentiment.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex, which had lost nearly 445 points in the last two trading session, rolled down further by 129.73 points or 0.74 per cent to 17,463.04, a level last seen on July 7 last year.

The barometer touched the day’s low of 17,362.59 before recovering a bit following an upsurge in the hard-hit Anil Ambani group companies — Reliance Infra, Reliance Com, Reliance Broadcast, Reliance Capital and Reliance Mediaworks.

The gauge has fallen 7.5 per cent since the Reserve Bank of India raised the key interest rates on January 25 for the seventh time since March and indicated more hikes in the future to curb the overall inflation.

The food inflation, however, dipped to a 7-week low of 13.07 per cent for the week ended January 29, but failed to influence the trading sentiment as reports of third quarter earnings by Indian Oil Corp failed to meet the market expectations.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 27.75 points or 0.53 per cent to 5,225.80. It touched the day’s low of 5,196.80.

The teck sector index suffered the most by falling 1.54 per cent to 3,596.07, followed by IT index 1.53 per cent to 6,147.54. The realty sector fell 1.03 per cent to 2,063.16 and oil and gas index by 0.81 per cent to 9,138.95.

The oil major and most index heaviest Reliance Industries fell by Rs 12.10 to Rs 899.75 and the second-heaviest software major Infosys by Rs 70.95 to Rs 3,056.05. The two carry nearly 23 per cent weightage on the Sensex.

The banking index fell by 0.31 per cent to 11,442.33 as the heavy-weight State Bank of India dropped by Rs 94.25 to Rs 2,496.65, the most in a month.

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