Dalal Street fell for a third straight session on Monday to their lowest close in more than a week as continued concerns over the countrys finances hit sectors particularly sensitive to growth such as banking,while earnings worries hit technology stocks. The Sensex,which had lost 209 points on Friday after the Budget presentation,fell another 192.83 points,or 1.10 per cent to close the session at 17,273.37,a level last seen on March 7. Similarly,the 50-issue NSE index Nifty tumbled 60.85 points,or 1.14 per cent to 5,257.05. Shares have been on the backfoot ever since the Reserve Bank of India left interest rates on hold on Thursday,with more selling spurred after the Budget was unveiled on Friday. The Sensex had plunged 235 points on Thursday. With this,the index has fallen 647 points in the last three sessions. The higher-than-expected government borrowing plan announced is being seen as preventing the RBI from easing policy anytime soon,and is raising concerns about growth at a time of rising worries about corporate profits. The Budget is seen as a disappointing one for the market. Banks fell for a third straight session,as investors witnessed little relief for a sector facing a potential rise in bad assets and a continued liquidity shortage despite the RBIs cut in the cash reserve ratio earlier this month. State Bank of India lost 3.07 per cent,bringing losses over the past three sessions to 8.4 per cent. Union Bank of India fell 4.37 per cent after Moodys downgraded the stock citing weaker financial metrics. Canara Bank was down 6 per cent and PNB 4.15 per cent. TCS settled 3.86 per cent lower at Rs 1,122.40 on the BSE today. During the day,the scrip lost as much as 5 per cent. Infosys fell by 1.15 per cent to close at Rs 2,833.05,while Wipro ended at Rs 426.75,down 0.30 per cent. Financial Tech fell by 3.48 per cent. Real estate firms have also been hit hard,despite provisions in the budget allowing companies to borrow overseas for low-cost housing projects.
