The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today tumbled by 189 points with investors booking

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profit a day after market witnessed a 561-point rally.

The 30-share barometer fell by 189.02 to 17,141.53 points. The Sensex had gained 561 points in the last session.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 57.45 to 5,136.15 points.

Brokers said fund-based selling in heavyweight stocks of Reliance Industries, Infosys and Reliance Infrastructure pulled down the market.

Investors speculated that yesterday's biggest one-day advance in 10 months may have exceeded the outlook for earnings, they added.

Market leader Reliance Industries fell by Rs 13 to Rs 1,067.20 and the second heaviest Infosys by Rs 11.95 to Rs 2,663.15. The two carry nearly 23 per cent weightage on the Sensex.

Stocks of Reliance Infrastructure declined Rs 52.70 to Rs 1,010.15 after surging 8.8 per cent yesterday, and Tata Steel by Rs 19.90 to Rs 581.85. The stock climbed the most in 11 months in previous session.

Among 30 Sensex components, 28 stocks closed with losses. All sectoral indices closed in the red.

A weak Asian trend and lower opening in Europe after international rating agency Moody's Investors Service in an unusual move regarding its sovereign ratings process said it may downgrade on Portugal and Greece to junk, also impacted the sentiment, brokers said.

The metal index fell the most losing 2.57 per cent to 16,494.26 points, followed by the realty sector index which dipped 2.43 per cent to 3,271.97 points.

The healthcare index fell by 1.59 per cent to 5,217.34, power index by 1.59 per cent to 3,037.39 and teck index by 1.40 per cent to 3,211.18.

As the selling pressure spread over a wide-front, midcap sector index fell by 0.99 per cent to 6,928.53 and the smallcap index by 0.85 per cent to 8,872.42.

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Markets @ 11.59 AM

The BSE Sensex extended losses to more than 1 percent around noon on Tuesday, with software companies leading the decline, after Asian markets dropped further.

At 11:59 a.m. (0629 GMT), the 30-share BSE index was down 1.07 percent at 17,144.32 points, with 27 components dropping.

The 50-share NSE index was down 1.1 percent at 5,137.50.

Markets @ 09.00 AM (PTI)

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by over 92 points in the opening trade today after rising the most in nearly 10 months in the previous session, on emergence of profit-booking by foreign funds and retailers.

The 30-share index, which surged 561.44 points in yesterday, edged lower by 92.07 points, or 0.53 per cent to 17,238.48.

Realty, metals, auto and oil and gas sector stocks were under pressure, dragging the Sensex down.

The National Stock Exchange's Nifty fell 17.55 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 5,176.05 points.

Brokers said besides emergence of profit-booking by foreign funds and retail investors, weak trend on other Asian bourses was also responsible for the fall.

Among losers Reliance Industries fell by 0.62 per cent to Rs 1,073.50, Infosys Technologies by 0.70 per cent to Rs 2,656.50, DLF Ltd by 1.27 per cent to Rs 300.25, Sterlite Industries by 0.54 per cent to Rs 752 and Tata Steel by 0.92 per cent to Rs 596.20.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.94 per cent in the morning trade today, while the US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 3.90 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.