Mumbai: The BSE Sensex on Thursday fell from life-time high levels to end down by 54 points at 27,085.93 as investors booked profits in realty, metal, capital goods, IT and banking stocks after a nine-day strong rally.
The 30-share barometer fell below 27,000 level to intra-day low of 26,972.39 points at mid-session, down by 167.55 points. Later, heavy buying by foreign funds helped the Sensex trim some losses and it settled at 27,085.93, yet showing loss of 54.01 points, or 0.20 percent.
In the longest straight nine-session winning streak of the year 2014, the index had zoomed by 825.65 points or 3.14 percent.
The broader 50-issue Nifty of the NSE fell below 8,100 points level to close at 8,095.95, a loss of 18.65 points or 0.23 percent over yesterday. The Nifty had gained 209.85 points or 2.65 percent in last five sessions.
"Weak global cues and rise in crude oil prices dampened market sentiment, which led to selling pressure across sectors," Bonanza Portfolio Senior Vice President Rakesh Goyal said.
Shares of realty, metal, capital goods, IT and banking declined. BHEL was the biggest Sensex loser, plunging by 4.44 percent, while Hindalco declined by 3.40 percent.
DLF tanked 8.60 percent after the Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside the state government's decision to allot 350 acres of land in Gurgaon to the realty major in 2010.
Among Sensex components, 19 stocks ended in negative territory, while 11 closed higher.
Construction and engineering firm Jaiprakash Associates tanked 17.60 per cent after promoter Jaypee Infra Ventures sold 1.45 per cent of shareholding for Rs 62.40 crore through open market sale route.
Bucking the weak trend, Bajaj Auto rose the most by 3.25 per cent among 30 Sensex scrips. Gains in NTPC, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC cushioned further losses in the index.
Brokers said the market was in an "over-bought" position and participants adopted a cautious approach and preferred to lighten some positions by booking profits.
Realty shares like Unitech, Oberoi Realty, DB Realty, Anant Raj, HDIL, IB Real Est and Godrej Prop dipped between 2.69 percent to 6.25 percent.
The BSE Realty Index suffered the most by falling 4.42 percent, followed by Metal Index (1.50 percent), Capital goods index (1.00 percent), Oil and Gas (0.53 percent) PSU Index (0.51 percent) and Power Index (0.49 percent).
A weakening trend on other Asian markets and a lower opening on the European markets as investors awaited the European Central Bank's next steps on interest rates and quantitative easing, also triggered selling, brokers said.
Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said, "Today local equities dropped into the profit booking mode, after posting its life time high yesterday. Now the investors are waiting for the outcome of the European Central Bank's policy meeting due today and the US non-farm payrolls data on Friday to show the road ahead to the market."
Major losers were Tata Steel (3.14 percent), Tata Motors (1.88 percent), Gail India (1.60 percent), Tata Power (0.83 percent) and Infosys (0.71 percent) while Bajaj Auto rose by 3.25 percent, NTPC 1.93 percent, Hero MotoCorp 1.83 percent and HDFC 1.51 percent.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,288.57 crores yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The total market breadth remained negative as 1,715 stocks closed lower while 1,246 finished higher. The total turnover rose by Rs 4,958.68 crore from Rs 3,621.42 crore yesterday.
