Mumbai, Nov 4 (PTI) Snapping a four-session winning streak, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by over 221 points in early trade on fresh selling by foreign funds in heavy-weight stocks.
The 30-share index, which has jumped nearly 1,800 points in the past four sessions, slid by 221.46 points, or 2 per cent at 10,116.22.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange's Nifty dipped below 3,000 points and lost 58.85 points, or 1.9 per cent at 2,985.
Selling pressure gathered momentum on the domestic stock markets largely due to profit-booking and weakness in other Asian bourses, traders said.
They said weak Indian rupee, which depreciated by 22 paise to 48.87 against the US dollar, also had some pressure on stock prices.
"Recent rally in shares attracted profit-taking at prevailing levels as measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India to inject liquidity into the system seems to have been discounted," said Manoj Choraria, a Delhi-based stock broker.
Major losers, which pulled the Sensex down were Reliance Industries, Reliance Infra, RCom, Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers, Wipro, HDFC Ltd, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Larsen and Toubro, BHEL and Bharti Airtel.
Bucking the trend, ONGC stock gained Rs 21.50, or 3.03 per cent at Rs 732.20 on speculative buying.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 3.4 per cent but Nikkei rose by 3.5 per cent in early trade. PTI
