Market tumbles for fifth day, Sensex tanks 536 pts

Equity indices nosedi ved for the fifth straight session on T hursday as investors took money of f the table amid f oreign fund outflows and hea vy selling in global markets.

Participants also pr eferred to r emain in a riskaverse mode ahead of the Union Budg et next w eek, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex skidded 535.57 points or 1.13 per cent to finish a 46,874.36.

Similarly, the br oader NSE Nifty tumb led 149.95 points or 1.07 per cent to 13,817.55.

The Sensex has no w lost 2,917.76 points in fi ve days, while the Nifty has retreated 827.15 points. t

HUL was the top loser in the Sensex pac k on T hursday, shedding 3.65 per cent, followed b y Mar uti, H DFC Bank, P owerGrid, K otak Bank, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech and Bajaj Finserv.

On the other hand, Axis Bank, SBI, ONGC, ICICI Bank and UltraT ech Cement were among the gainers, jumping up to 6.16 per cent.

On the global fr ont, Wall Street posted its big gest one-day percentage drop in three months amid a wa ve of pr ofit-booking, e ven as the US F ed left the benc hmark interest ra te unchanged near z ero and vowed to maintain its bond buying program.

"Market tur ned cautious after the unidirectional upside of the last 10 months due to ambiguity ahead the Budget and p rofit booking in the global market due to over-enthusiasm.

"Global risk p arameters increased despite the US Fed maintaining its supportive polic y, due to high speculation in the equity market and lik ely dr op in fiscal and monetary liquidity in the futur e,"said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geoj it Financial Services.