Mumbai, Sept 19: Snapping its 3-day winning streak, the BSE Sensex today fell over 188 points to 16,745.35 as investors sold stocks amid rising interest rates, slowing growth and weak global markets.
Capital goods, banking, power and metals were hit hard. The capital goods sector, which was the worst performer last week after a steep fall in the industrial production, suffered further set back in view of RBI's raising key rate.
The market was also hit by weak trend in the Asian region, with Hong Kong tumbling 2.76 per cent, and lower openings in Europe.
Brokers said the failure of European finance ministers to make progress on the financial rescue plan for Greece, led to heavy sell-offs worldwide.
Banking counters also bore the brunt of selling as high interest rates will weigh negatively on loan growth, while metal shares were down on fall in metal prices on the London Metal Exchange (LMEX).
The Reserve Bank raised lending rate by 25 basis points last Friday to tame inflation, which was at 13-month high of 9.78 per cent in August. It was the 12th time in 18 months that RBI raised the key rate.
After gaining over 466 points or 2.83 per cent in the last three trading sessions, the 30-share BSE barometer fell 16,745.35, net fall of 188.48 points or 1.11 per cent.
The NSE 50-issue Nifty also dropped by 52.30 points or 1.03 per cent to end at 5,031.95. PTI
