BSE Sensex falls 0.5 pct after 6-day rally

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex (^BSESN : 16185.2 -79.1) dropped 0.5 percent Monday as investors locked in profits after a six-session rally, with weak Asian markets setting the direction.

By 11:23 a.m. (0553 GMT), the 30-share BSE Index was down nearly 80 points at 16,185.94 points, with 20 components losing.

The benchmark, which climbed 5.6 percent over the previous six sessions, had more than doubled last Tuesday from its March low.

"There is very little room for buying at these levels," said D.D. Sharma, vice-president, Anand Rathi Securities.

"There might be pockets of demand at dips, but largely I foresee a downward trend for some time as the market will continue to experience profit-booking," he said.

Private-sector lender ICICI Bank (ICICIBANK.NS : 826.25 -8.9) led the losers, falling 1.2 percent to 825.90 rupees, followed by engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro (LT.NS : 1609.15 -18.8) that shed 0.9 percent to 1,613.15 rupees.

Tata Steel (TATASTL.BO : 473.45 +4.3), the world's eighth-largest steel maker, bucked the trend and rose 1.2 percent to 474.80 rupees on rising demand hopes, and top automaker Maruti Suzuki gained 0.2 percent to 1,469.70 rupees on robust car sales.

Data on Friday showed factory output grew for a seventh month in July and India's reservoirs and prospects for winter crops were boosted after the weather office said the monsoon delivered the season's heaviest rain in the past week.

Sharma said many sectors including real estate, banks and autos had run up over the past week and needed to pause.

Foreign funds have moved about $448 million into Indian equities between Sept. 1-10, taking the total inflow since the end of 2008 to $8.7 billion.

The investment has helped the BSE index climb nearly 69 percent this year, after sliding more than half in 2008 when foreigners had pulled out over $13 billion.

In the broader market, there were 1,259 losers to 969 gainers on moderate volume of 116.4 million shares.

The 50-share NSE (^NSEI : 4810.85 -18.7) index was down 0.6 percent at 4,802 points.

MAIN TOP 3 BY VOLUME

* Kirloskar Oil on 14.4 million shares

* NHPC on 6.8 million shares

* Tata Steel on 5.8 million shares