Selling pressure was broad-based as thirteen of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty IT index's over 2 per cent decline
The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their three-day winning streak on Thursday as investors booked profits after a sharp up move which came on the back of budget announcements. The Sensex fell as much as 894 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 17,511. Infosys, HDFC, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex.
The Sensex fell 770 points to close at 58,788 and Nifty 50 index declined 220 points to close at 17,560.
The benchmarks opened lower and extended losses in the last 30 minutes of trade owing to sudden selling pressure in banking and financial services shares.
Selling pressure was broad-based as thirteen of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty IT index's over 2 per cent decline. Nifty Realty, Private Bank, Financial Services indices also fell over a per cent each.
On the other hand, auto and consumer durable shares witnessed buying interest.
Shares of sugar companies like Balrampur Chini, EID Parry, Triveni Engineering, Dalmia Sugar, Bajaj Hindustan, Andhra Sugar, Dwarikesh Sugar and DCM Shriram rallied between 4-6 per cent after government said that unblended fuel will attract Rs 2 per litre extra excise duty. Blending of fuel is done by adding Ethanol to the fuel and it is a byproduct of sugar manufacturing.
Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.34 per cent.
HDFC was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3.5 per cent to close at Rs 2,521. ONGC, SBI Life, Grasim Industries, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank and Tech Mahindra also fell between 2-3 per cent.
On the flipside, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Divi's Labs, Maruti Suzuki, ITC and State Bank of India were among the notable gainers.
The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,704 shares ended higher while 1,652 closed lower on the BSE.