Sensex takes first hit in 5 days as fatigue catches up

Concerns about foreign capital flying out remained.

On the macro front, services sector activity expanded for the first time in three months in September - but only slightly. The Nikkei India Services PMI stood at 50.7 in September - from 47.5 in August.

The BSE 30-share index after a positive opening stretched to 31,772.41, but could not stay there for long buffeted by the selling pressure. It hit a low of 31,562.25 before settling lower by 79.68 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 31,592.03.

The index, which rose 174 points yesterday after the Reserve Bank decided to hold rates in line with expectations, had gained 512 points in the previous four sessions.

Reflecting the volatile trend, the NSE Nifty after shuttling between 9,945.95 and 9,881.855, closed down 26.20 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 9,888.70.

"Market traded range bound with a negative bias due to lack of optimism to the upcoming earnings season. However, some positive development in auto sales numbers, core sector growth and festival demand will add some light over the consolidation phase," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

Outcome of tomorrow's GST Council meeting is also seen to decide the direction of the market in the short run.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares net Rs 584.88 crore while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) dumped equities worth of Rs 632.14 crore yesterday, showed provisional data.

In stock-specific movement, PowerGrid took the biggest knock plunging 1.99 per cent to Rs 204.85 while ICICI Bank lost 1.54 per cent to Rs 271.75. Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Ltd and Sun Pharma also bogged down the key BSE index.

NTPC, Coal India, M&M and RIL made headway, limiting the damage.

The BSE telecom index fell the most by 0.71 per cent.

Others such as oil and gas, consumer durables and FMCG too suffered losses.

The broader markets gave a better account of themselves - the small-cap index was up 0.79 per cent and mid-cap 0.49 per cent.

Financial markets in China, Hong Kong and South Korea were shut today for public holidays. Japan's Nikkei ended flat.

European shares took a mixed line in the early session.