Sensex fell for the sixth day yesterday, this time about 66 points, to end at nearly two-week low of 26,242, dragged down by major IT stocks such as Infosys and TCS amid mixed global cues. Infosys fell 0.66% and TCS 1.07%. The index, which had lost 389.84 points in the previous five session, dropped another 65.60 points, or 0.25%, to end at 26,242.38, its lowest closing since  December 7.
It shuttled between 26,396and 26,213.51 yesterday. The 50-share NSE Nifty also declined by 21.10 points, or 0.26%, to end at 8,061.30, after moving between 8,112.55 and 8,053.25. The volume remained low in view of the approaching year-end holidays.
FMCG, information technology, technology, capital goods and health care sectors led the fall by up to 0.95%. However, buying interest was witnessed in select sectors like realty, consumer durables, power and PSU. Shares of Sun Pharma suffered the most by plunging 2.25%, followed by ITC that fell by 1.44%.
Other losers were TCS, Wipro, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, L&T Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, GAIL and Dr Reddy’s, while Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Lupin, NTPC, ONGC, Powergrid, ICICI Bank and Adani Ports rose, which minimised the fall.
Overseas, Asian stocks ended largely mixed. Japan Nikkei closed lower by 0.26%  yesterday,  slipping off a one-year high hit the previous day as investors shuffled their positions before the holiday season. However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.37% and Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.11%.
Europe opened lower in early trade, with Frankfurt falling 0.20% and Paris 0.40%. London’s FTSE was down by 0.20%.
As many as 17 scrips out of 30-share Sensex pack ended lower. Sector-wise, FMCG index was down 0.95%, followed by IT 0.75%, technology 0.74% and capital goods 0.40%.
Broader market saw a mixed trend, with mid-cap index falling 0.16%. Small-cap edged up 0.03%. Foreign funds sold shares worth Rs685.93 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data.
Meanwhile the rupee yesterday strengthened against the US dollar, tracking gains in the Asian currencies markets.
The rupee closed at 67.91 per US dollar, up 0.19% from its previous close of 68.04. The home currency opened at 67.97 against the US dollar and touched a high and a low of 67.85 and 67.97 respectively. So far this year, it has fallen 2.59%.
Asian currencies closed higher as investors looked past geopolitical events to the prospects of faster US economic growth. Japanese yen was up 0.34%, Philippines peso 0.17%, Singapore dollar 0.14%, China Offshore 0.12%, Taiwan dollar 0.08%, Hong Kong dollar 0.06%, China renminbi 0.05%.
The benchmark 10-year government bond yield closed at 6.463%, compared to Tuesday’s close of 6.48%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
So far this year, foreign institutional investors have bought $3.9bn in equities and sold $6.84bn in debt.