Benchmark share indices continued to decline for the fifth consecutive session on Monday as they opened for the first time since the fall of the short-lived Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka.

The BSE Sensex fell over 232 points to end at a one-month low of 34,616.13, while the Nifty 50 closed 79.70 points lower at 10,516.70. The Sensex had lost 708.41 points in the previous four sessions amid uncertainty over the political situation in Karnataka.

The indices were also hit by a decline in the rupee and sustained outflows of foreign funds from the Indian market, PTI reported. Sentiment was also dismal after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Punjab National Bank’s rating on Monday, citing the impact of the massive fraud the bank reported in February.

On the Sensex, only six stocks gained during the day – State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services, Coal India, ICICI Bank, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Power Grid Corporation. The top five losers were Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s, Yes Bank, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp.

On the Nifty 50, State Bank of India, Bharat Petroleum, Coal India, TCS and GAIL were the top five stocks, while the companies whose shares fell the most were Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma, UPL, Yes Bank and Zee Entertainment.

The rupee declined further on Monday to 68.16 against the dollar but recovered to 67.98 at 4.10 pm.