Sensex loses 239 points as bank, realty, metal stocks fall

Mumbai: Stock markets moved down for the second session on Thursday as the Sensex ended with a loss of 239 points as banking, realty and metal stocks struggled owing to concerns over the direction of the monetary policy.

The Reserve Bank on Wednesday cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6 per cent, but pinned future action on more economic data.

Interest-rate sensitive stocks - banking, realty and auto - continued their slide as the RBI policy action failed to impress



investors.

The 30-share index ended down 238.86 points, or 0.74 per cent, at 32,237.88 after hitting a low of 32,194.58. The gauge had lost 98.43 points on Wednesday.

The Nifty slumped by 67.85 points, or 0.67 per cent, but managed to close above the 10,000-mark at 10,013.65 after touching a low of 9,998.25.

The rupee, which strengthened further against the dollar to trade at a fresh two-year high of 63.56 (intra-day) in the forex market, failed to boost sentiment.