Mumbai: Falling for the third straight day, the Sensex on Tuesday shed 47 points to close at over two-week low amidst the Parliament failing to transact business yet again, raising concerns over fate of much-awaited economic reforms.
The BSE benchmark index, which had lost 171 points in previous two sessions, opened unchanged but dropped 108 points to 17,570.71 as metal counters including Sterlite Industries, Jindal Steel and Hindalco fell in the 3-5 per cent range tracking weak metal prices in London Metal Exchange (LME).
Sustained selling was also seen in L&T, BHEL, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, ONGC, Coal India, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto.
After erasing some losses on the back of gains in Infosys, TCS and ITC, Sensex closed at 17,631.71, down 47.10 points or 0.27 per cent over yesterday. This is the lowest closing for the 30-share index since 17,557.74 hit on August 10.
The Parliament failed to transact any business for the sixth straight day today as BJP continued to create ruckus by pressing its demand for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even as other Opposition parties wanted to take up debate on CAG report and other business.
"Market sentiment became sceptical after political disagreement over several matters indicated that sturdy reform measures cannot be expected easily in near future," said Nidhi Sarswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.
A weak trend in the Asian region and lower opening in Europe on reports of slowdown in China and Eurozone might continue to hurt global economic growth, further dampened the market sentiment at the domestic front.
Besides, lack of any major overseas trigger compelled investors to book profits ahead of the expiry of Futures & Options contracts on August 30, experts.
Among sectoral indices, IT, FMCG and Power indices outperformed Sensex. Total market breadth, however, was negative as 1,889 scrips ended lower while 929 ended higher.
The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 15.65 points, or 0.29 per cent to 5,334.60, after touching the day's low of 5,312.60.
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