Benchmark indices pared early gains and declined for the fourth day running on Wednesday, with the Sensex falling 276.46 points amid selling in index majors Infosys and Reliance Industries.
Foreign institutional investors remaining in selling mode and jump in crude prices also weighed on sentiment.
Despite a firm start, the 30-share BSE Sensex failed to carry forward the momentum and ended at 54,088.39, lower by 276.46 points or 0.51 per cent. During the day, it tumbled 845.55 points or 1.55 per cent to 53,519.30.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty dipped 72.95 points or 0.45 per cent to settle at 16,167.10.
“Indices displayed extreme volatility today ahead of CPI and IIP data this week. The market breadth was very weak with several stocks in the broader market taking a big knock...,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.
Among the Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Maruti, PowerGrid, Infosys and ITC were among the prominent laggards.
In contrast, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai ended with gains, while Seoul settled marginally lower.
Equity markets in Europe were quoting higher in the afternoon session. Stock exchanges in the US had ended mostly higher on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 3.12 per cent to 105.7 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 3,960.59 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.
“Nifty continues to be in the negative for the fourth consecutive session while Asian markets are mixed and European markets are up ahead of inflation report from the US,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
