Indian share prices closed 2.15 percent lower on Wednesday, extending losses to a fifth day, on selling by funds and retail investors as inflation worries mounted, dealers said.
They said jitters ahead of US inflation data and US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before US lawmakers due later in the day hit sentiment and overseas funds sold shares, pushing the rupee down against the dollar to a fresh 37-month low.
The 30-share Mumbai benchmark Sensex stock exchange index ended down 219.44 points at 10,007.34. Automobile, steel and engineering stocks were hit most as the Sensex fell below the 10,000 mark in intra-day trade.
Wipro jumped 2.6 percent to an intraday high of 498 rupees after its first quarter results but ended down 26.7 rupees or 5.51 percent at 458.3 as investors locked in gains. India's third-largest software exporter, Wipro, said its first-quarter net profit jumped 44.9 percent at 6.2 billion rupees (137 million dollars) on strong outsourcing trends.
"Earnings have been strong but there are concerns over rising oil prices and the Middle East conflict. Global factors such as inflation will continue to dictate trends for regional Asian markets in coming days," said Naresh Garg, chief investment officer with Sahara Mutual fund.
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