Sensex falls 67 points in choppy trade

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark index Sensex on Thursday fell by 67 points in a choppy trade due to profit selling in realty, metal and auto stocks amid weak global trends.

The 30-share index moved between 18,249.53 and 18,005.23 before settling at 18,078.50 points, down by 66.75 points, or 0.37% over the last close.

The broad-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange fell by 22.05 points, or 0.40% to 5,483.30, after touching the day's high of 5,537.40 points.

Brokers said market turned bearish as investors booked profits from recent rallies as concerns mounted over the state of the global economy, including rising oil prices.

A weakening trend in the Asian region and lower opening in Europe as re-sales of homes in the US trailed estimates gave a negative impact on the market, they added.

They said the market turned volatile as major players seen squaring up their pending positions on expiry of monthly derivatives segment, further fuelling the weakening trend.

The realty sector suffered the most by losing 2.46% to 1,973.40 followed by metal index by 1.41% to 11,944.28. Auto index, which rally in last few sessions on higher sales, fell by 0.79% to 10,089.91.

The falling trend partly cushioned as market major Reliance Industries gained 0.59% to Rs838.10 and state-run lender State Bank of India by 0.15% to Rs2,261.25.

Major losers of the index kitty were Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, Larsen and Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra, Sterlite Industries, Bajaj Auto, Wipro and Bharti Airtel.