In a volatile trading, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today fell by 75 points to 19,612 on profit-taking, as rising oil prices fuelled investor concerns that inflation and hike in interest rates could hit corporate earnings.

The 30-share BSE index, Sensex, which had lost 15 points on Tuesday, fell further by 74.62 points to 19,612.20, after touching the day’s high of 19,811.14.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 18.30 points to 5,891.75, after moving between 5,944.45 and 5,868.80.

Brokers said investors expected inflationary pressure to continue in view of high crude oil prices and consumer demand, which would lead to further hike in interest rates.

On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India indicated that easy money policy was a distant reality in the face of persistently rising prices. It has increased the benchmark lending rates eight times in the last one year and had raised the inflation forecast.

Besides, the brokers said market was witnessing profit-booking, although in a limited way, after the recent long rally of nearly 11 per cent in March. A mixed pattern of trading in Asia and higher openings in Europe capped the losses to some extent.

The downward pressure was led by stocks in teck, IT, banking and metal sectors. The banking index fell by 0.43 per cent to 13,351.89 as HDFC Bank dropped the most in a month.

The teck sector index suffered the most by losing 0.84 per cent to 3,908.86, followed by IT sector index down 0.69 per cent to 6,652.26. The metal index lost 0.41 per cent to 16,645.07.

Reliance Industries, with heaviest weight on the Sensex fell by Rs 1.10 to Rs 1,043.85 and the second heaviest, Infosys Technologies, by Rs 8.90 to Rs 3,270.60. The two carry nearly 23 per cent weightage in the index.

Mahindra and Mahindra declined by Rs 6.80 to RS 725.95 and Maruti Suzuki by Rs 18.35 to Rs 1,294.65 after the companies announced price hikes.

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