BSE Sensex 186 points down

MUMBAI, Feb 20 (Reuters): The BSE Sensex fell on Thursday to snap four consecutive sessions of gains as blue-chips including ICICI Bank were hit by profit-taking after regional markets were hit by a survey painting a grim picture of China's manufacturing sector.

The declines came even after foreign investors have been net buyers of $296.99 million worth of Indian shares in the last six sessions and have bought a net 4.68 billion rupees on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.

Global cues are expected to dominate in the short-term given the absence of significant domestic events, analysts said. Asian shares were hit on Thursday when the preliminary HSBC/Markit survey of manufacturing activity for February fell to a seven-month low.