The benchmark Sensex plunged by over 271 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday on profit selling at existing higher levels.
MUMBAI: Echoing the weak trends in other Asian markets, the domestic bourses nosedived on Thursday the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex shedding over 271 points with bluechips Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank stocks coming under heavy selling pressure.
The markets started the day on a strong note but later reacted downwards becuase, according to brokers, Foreign Institutional Investors were believed to be booking profits at current higher levels.
The 30-share BSE barometer however still settled at above the 20k milestone at 20,104.39 points. It represents a loss of 271.48 points over its previous close.
In the intra-day, the Sensex rose to a high of 20,498.11 points and dipped to a low of 20,065.63 points.
The 50-share Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange index Nifty also declined by 101.20 points to 6,058.10. It touched the day's high of 6,185.40 and a low of 6,040.40 points.
A cross-section of counters came under hectic selling, with IT and Banking stocks bearing the maximum brunt. The country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank lost 3.70 per cent.
FMCG and Metal and Auto shares bucked the trend and attracted buying support. While FMCG index rose by 1.87 per cent metal and auto indices were up by 0.90 per cent and 0.68 per cent respectively.
Auto major Bajaj Auto, Hindalco Cipla Ltd, Tata Steel and ITC Ltd gained in the range of one per cent to four per cent. However, another auto major Maruti Suzuki was down by a a significant 3.45 per cent.
Bluechip Bharti Airtel topped the list of losers with its shares losing by as high as 6.24 per cent. Heavyweights RIL and ONGC were also down by 1.88 per cent and 2.23 per cent respectively.
Other index shares such as SBI, HDFC Bank, BHEL, Infosys Tech, L&T, NTPC, REL and Tata Motors were the prominent losers on Thursday.
Small-cap and mid-cap counters continued their upward march as retail investors reposed confidence in them.
Of the total 2,928 traded shares, 1,843 registered gains while 1,059 ended in the red.
The trading volume improved to Rs 10,212.00 crore from Rs 9,614.65 crore on Wednesday. Ispat Ind topped the list of highest traded securities with a turnover of Rs 365.59 crore.
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