Sensex, Nifty Fall For Sixth Day, Longest Losing Streak In 2 Months

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 Indexes fell for sixth straight day as benchmarks posted their longest stretch of losses in since May 13. Investor sentiment remains subdued in the aftermath of higher taxes on super rich and lacklustre corporate earnings. IMF cutting growth outlook for the Indian economy for current financial year also added to the already subdued sentiment. Meanwhile, in today's session Sensex and Nifty opened higher and traded with a positive bias for most part of the day but gave up gains in last 30 minutes of trade owing to expiry of futures and options contracts for the month of July.

The Sensex ended 17 points or 0.04 per cent lower at 37,831 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index declined 19 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 11,252.

Four of 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Metal Index's nearly 1 per cent decline.

Nifty PSU Bank index also declined 0.9 per cent.

On the other hand, Nifty Pharma Index was top gainer, up 2.2 per cent.

Tata Motors was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock declined 4.8 per cent to close at Rs 144 ahead of its June quarter earnings. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Coal India, JSW Steel, Bharat Petroleum, Reliance Industries, UPL and Yes Bank were also among the losers.

On the flipside, Vedanta, Cipla, Zee Entertainment, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Axis Bank and Power Grid were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was marginally negative as 982 shares ended lower while 788 closed higher on the National Stock Exchange.