Foreign investors sold Indian shares worth 101.48 billion rupees, about 1.06 billion dollars, on Wednesday, provisional data showed. They have offloaded about 3.6 billion dollars in the previous five sessions.

Year-to-date foreign selling has reached 27.8 billion dollars, keeping pressure on Indian equities. GIFT Nifty futures pointed to a weak start for the benchmark Nifty 50.

The Nifty and BSE Sensex have lost 2.3% and 1.9% respectively so far this week. They are on track for an eighth consecutive weekly decline, the longest such streak in 25 years.

Domestic institutions absorbed more than all of the foreign selling on October 1, buying shares worth 10,042 crore rupees against foreign sales of 9,484 crore. The Nifty still fell 0.88% that day.

Easing crude oil prices offered some relief. Brent futures slipped to around 98 dollars a barrel on hopes of US-Iran peace talks.