Sensex at one month low, falls 39 points ahead of Bihar poll result

Mumbai: Falling for the third straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex lost almost 39 points to close at over one-month low of 26,265.24 in a choppy trade today ahead of Bihar election results, which are due Sunday. The global cues remained mixed. The rupee lost some of its sheen against the dollar to over five-week low of 65.87 (intra-day) on sustained capital outflows, which hit market sentiment. Disappointing earnings by blue-chips, including Tata Steel and Bank of Baroda, weighed too, fuelling selling pressure, brokers said.

Shares of drug firm Dr Reddy's Laboratories slumped 14.65 per cent after the company said it has received a warning letter from USFDA on quality control at its three manufacturing units in India. Tata Steel shares, too, went down 2.44 per cent after the company's earnings failed to impress investors.

On November 5, it reported a 22 per cent rise in consolidated net profit for the September quarter. On the other hand, shares of SBI rose nearly 3.86 per cent after the country's largest lender posted a 25 per cent growth in stand-alone net profit for the second quarter ended September. "Exit polls are indicating that the NDA giving a tough fight to JDU-led alliance in Bihar has made investors cautious," said Manoj Choraria, a Delhi-based NSE stock broker.

The Sensex resumed lower, but quickly rebounded before finishing at 26,265.24 due to profit-booking, a loss of 38.96 points, or 0.15 per cent -- its weakest closing since October 1. The gauge has now lost 325.35 points in the three straight sessions.

The broader NSE Nifty after recapturing the crucial 8,000-mark hit a high of 8,002.65 in early trade, but finally settled down 1.15 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 7,954.30. For the week, the Sensex lost 391.59 points, or 1.46 per cent, and the NSE Nifty dropped 111.50 points, or 1.38 per cent -- their second straight weekly fall.

Meanwhile, FPIs sold shares worth Rs 991.87 crore on November 5, provisional numbers showed. Among others, GAIL, Vedanta Ltd, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, BHEL and ICICI Bank all fell. A mixed trend prevailed in Asia as investors closely tracked a US jobs report that could shed light on which way the US Fed would move on interest rates in coming days. A weak opening in Europe too didn't help.