Sensex falls by 152 points on concerns over rising rupee

Paring its early gains, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today declined by 152 points after heavy selling in IT shares on concerns that firming rupee will hit the revenues of software companies.

The 30-share index, which had gained 162 points during the day, closed at 16,806.66 points, a loss of 151.88 points over last close. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 41.65 points at 4,985.75. It touched the day's high of 5,077 points and a low of 4,972.95 points.

Brokers said the rupee which traded below 47 level today against the US dollar triggered the selling in IT stocks. Software exporters earned over 50 per cent of revenue from the US market and rising rupee hit their profitability.

The IT sector index suffered the most losing 2.74 per cent to 4,421.27 as shares of TCS, Wipro and Infosys Technologies, which are scheduled to announce their results on October 9, fell sharply.

Sensex-related Bharti Airtel declined after its rating was cut by Macquarie Group to "underperform" from "outperform."

The down-trend was cushioned after a steep rise in metal stocks, led by Sterlite Industries, and a better trend in Asian stock markets. Sterlite Industries, the country's biggest copper producer, rose 5.53 per cent to a 16-month high of Rs815.90. Tata Steel gaimed 1.23 per cent to Rs 516.70, after it said second-quarter sales climbed 20 per cent.

Besides IT sector index, teck index lost 1.97 per cent to 3,050.51, oil and gas by 1.06 per cent to 10,161.20, auto by 1.03 per cent to 6,456.13, banking 0.84 per cent to 9,832.47 and FMCG index by 0.52 per cent to 2,702.60.

Bucking the weak trend, consumer durable index rose by 4.58 per cent to 3,624.57, metal index by 2.28 per cent to 14,482.20, healthcare by 1.31 per cent to 4,411.98 and realty by 0.51 per cent to 4,333.76.