Sensex snaps 5-day gains, falls 108 pts; BSE Metal down 3%

Equity benchmarks snapped five-day winning streak Tuesday with the Sensex losing over 100 points weighed down by profit booking in metals and index heavyweights.

The Sensex was down 108.41 points to close at 21826.42 while the Nifty fell 25.35 points to 6511.90, which touched an intraday low of 6494.25.

The market saw profit booking (cum-consolidation) today after seeing pre-election rally of nearly 1000 points in last five consecutive sessions to reach psychological 22000-mark on the Sensex.

Manishi Raychaudhury of BNP Paribas Securities said an expectation of a strong prime minister in the 16th Lok Sabha may have added to the positive sentiment and 2014 can turn out to be a year of exceptional returns.

He, however, cautions that along with hope, there has to be sign of fundamental improvement as well. Meanwhile, BNP Paribas has upgraded India to overweight (from underweight) based on opportunities in technology, consumer staples and discretionaries, financials and telecoms.

On the economic data front, India's trade deficit recorded its steepest fall since September 2013 in the month of February to USD 8.13 billion from USD 14.12 billion in the year-ago period and USD 9.92 in January, helped by sharp decline in oil and non-oil imports.

The market will closely watch January industrial output and February CPI inflation data scheduled to be announced on Wednesday evening.

Metal stocks saw heavy selling pressure on fears of China slowdown and fall in iron ore prices in international market. The BSE Metal Index lost 3.44 percent.

Shares of Tata Steel crashed 5.5 percent while Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco Industries were down 3.6 percent each.

Top lenders like State Bank of India and HDFC Bank declined 1 percent each whereas rival ICICI Bank gained 0.4 percent.

Auto stocks, which were also participated in the rally, lost ground. Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra, top car maker Maruti Suzuki and two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto slipped 1-2.7 percent. However, Tata Motors bucked the trend, rising 0.6 percent.

Major largecaps like Reliance Industries, ITC, Larsen & Toubro and Bharti Airtel declined between 0.7-1.2 percent.

Healthcare major Sun Pharma lost further, down 2.6 percent in addition to 2.6 percent loss in previous session.

However, Tata Power outperformed with over 4 percent gains in the Sensex. Media reports indicated that Tata and BSES distribution companies are set to get Rs 8,000 crore boost as Delhi power regulator works out a plan to liquidate past dues. Reliance Infrastructure surged 5 percent.

Declining shares outpaced advancing ones by a ratio of 1535 to 1232 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.