Benchmark indices ended lower today, reversing gains in the last hour of trade. Sensex closed 206.93 points lower at 61,143.33 and Nifty fell 57.45 points to 18,210.95.
Earlier, Sensex hit intra day high of 61,576 and Nifty reached 18,342 during the session.
Axis Bank was the top Sensex loser, falling 6.52 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, HUL and Tata Steel.
Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Infosys, SBI and UltraTech Cement were the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 4.42%.
Of the 30 Sensex shares, 16 ended lower. In the previous session, Sensex ended 383.21 points higher at 61,350 and Nifty surged 143 points to 18,268.40.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said, “Nifty lost some steam on October 27 after gaining it on the previous day. However, 18,155 is the crucial support and till it is breached, Nifty has a chance to continue the uptrend. Advance decline ratio ended in the positive but fell from the morning levels, suggesting profit taking in broader markets.”
BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rose 5.71 points and 85 points, respectively. On the sectoral front, banking, metal and oil and gas stocks led the losses today. BSE bankex fell 528 points to 46,724.
BSE metal and oil and gas indices ended 380 points and 132 points lower, respectively. IT and healthcare stocks capped the losses with their BSE indices rising 344 and 156 points, respectively,
The market breadth was positive with 1,787 shares ending higher against 1,462 stocks closing in the red. 145 shares were unchanged.
Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 265.31 lakh crore. On Tuesday, the market cap stood at Rs 265.36 lakh crore.
Meanwhile, rupee weakened by 7 paise to end at 75.03 against the US currency, weighed down by a muted trend in domestic equities and strength of the American currency in the overseas market.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 75.02 and later witnessed a high of 74.90 and a low of 75.05 against the US dollar in the day trade. On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 74.96 against the US dollar.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended with losses.
Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading on a negative note in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude slumped 1.09 per cent to $84.72 per barrel.