BSE Sensex falls on profit booking; ITC hit

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex provisionally fell on Thursday on profit-taking, led by declines in banking stocks as hopes of a rate cut by the central bank faded while cigarette maker ITC dropped on regulatory worries.

ICICI Bank ended 1.27 percnet down while HDFC Bank fell 1.28 percnet. They had earlier gained after the unexpected fall in July inflation boosted hopes for monetary easing by the Reserve Bank of India.

ITC falls 3.6 percent on fears about regulatory action at home after Australia called on the world to match its tough new anti-tobacco marketing laws that will ban logos on cigarette packs.

The BSE Sensex provisionally ended down 0.44 percent at 17,650.02 points, while the 50-share Nifty also fell 0.32 percent to end at 5,362.95 points.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi and Manoj Dharra; Editing by Anand Basu)