The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 471 points or 0.66 per cent to trade at 71,030, while the NSE Nifty was down 125 points or 0.58 per cent to trade at 21,446.
Indian equity benchmarks extended their fall for the third straight session in Thursday's early trade. The domestic indices were dragged by banks, financials, IT and consumer stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 471 points or 0.66 per cent to trade at 71,030, while the NSE Nifty was down 125 points or 0.58 per cent to trade at 21,446. Broader markets (mid- and small-cap shares) were mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 shed 0.02 per cent and small-cap rose 0.28 per cent.
On the global front, Asian markets were muted. Overnight, Wall Street equities closed lower.
Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Rs 10,578.13 crore worth of shares on a net basis during the previous session, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 4,006.44 crore worth of shares, exchange data showed.
10 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumer Durables were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 1.07 per cent, 1.43 per cent, 0.63 per cent, 0.40 per cent and 0.62 per cent, respectively.
On the stock-specific front, LTIMindtree was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 9.17 per cent to trade at Rs 5,700. PowerGrid, HDFC Bank, SBI Life and Dr Reddy's fell up to 4.06 per cent.
In contrast, Adani Ports, Apollo Hospitals, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors and SBI were among the top gainers.
The overall market breadth was strong as 1,734 shares were advancing while 1,009 were declining on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, PowerGrid, Infosys, ITC, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever and HCLTech were among the top laggards.
Also, BSE 500 stocks such as ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, Alok Industries, NHPC, IEX, PowerGrid, Zomato and HDFC Bank slumped up to 9.27 per cent. On the other hand, Oracle Financial Services Software (OFSS), Birla Corporation, Aarti Industries, PCBL, Trident, Rainbow, Vaibhav Global and Cochin Shipyard jumped up to 15 per cent.
