Sensex, Nifty End Lower After Massive Last-Minute Sell-Off, Fifth Fall In Six Days

Sensex fell over 323 points after an intense sell-off during the closing hours on Wednesday triggered by losses mainly in index heavyweights Infosys, Reliance and HDFC. After spending most part of the day in green, the BSE close 0.55 per cent or 323.34 points to close at 58,340.99 - reversing the gains acquired on Monday after a four-day losing streak. Tuesday's performance marked its fifth day of decline in the last six days. Likewise, the NSE Nifty fell 88.30 points or 0.5 per cent to close at 17,415.05. 

Maruti, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ITC, Reliance, L&T, UltraTech Cement and HDFC were the top losers, dropping as much as 2.62 per cent. On the other hand, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finance and PowerGrid closed the day with gains.

Of the Sensex constituents, 22 shares ended in the red.

Analysts told news agency PTI that gains in banking and financial stocks were offset by losses in the oil & gas and auto sectors. 

Eicher was the top loser on Nifty, falling 2.8 per cent. Maruti Suzuki, Tata Consumer, Grasim Industries, Infosys, ITC, Cipla, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Divi's Labs, Tech Mahindra fell between 1.4-2.8 per cent. 

ONGC, Adani Ports, Coal India, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil were among the gainers.

Elsewhere in Asia, stock markets closed with moderate to deep losses, tracking a rise in US bond yields and volatility in global crude oil prices in the wake of price-cooling efforts by the US and other countries.

Offloading of shares by foreign institutional investors continued on Tuesday, as they sold shares worth Rs 4,477.06 crore on a net basis.

In a separate development on Wednesday, the rupee recovered its initial losses to close 2 paise higher over its previous close at 74.40 against the dollar, minutes ahead of the release of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.  The rupee opened weak at 74.53 against the greenback and rose to an intra-day high of 74.31 and fell to an intra-day low of 74.54. 

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.24 per cent to USD 82.11 per barrel.

(With inputs from PTI)