Nifty falls the most in 2-1/2 weeks

MUMBAI, July 31 (Reuters): The Nifty fell nearly 1 per cent on Thursday, marking its biggest single-day fall in nearly 2-1/2 weeks as foreign investors sales and expiry of July derivatives weighed on blue-chips such as Housing Development Finance Corp.

HDFC provisionally fell 2.1 per cent while ITC ended down 0.6 per cent.

The broader Nifty provisionally lost 0.9 per cent, marking its biggest single-day fall since July 11.

The index, however, gained 1.4 per cent in July to notch up its third consecutive monthly gain.