By IANS
Mumbai : Weighed down by weak global market sentiments, the Indian equities market Thursday suffered a slide of 612.56 points, the biggest fall in the past two weeks.
The benchmark Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended down 612.56 points or 3.38 percent at 17,526.93 after opening the day on a positive stride at 18,198.68.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) benchmark Nifty closed at 5133.25, down by 189.30 points or 3.56 percent.
Heavy selling was witnessed in mid-cap and small-cap segments as well. After remaining positive for a long time, several stocks from these segments drifted down sharply on selling pressure.
While the midcap index lost nearly 2 percent, the smallcap barometer was down with a loss of 1.49 percent.
Analysts here said the market players took their cue from week European markets. Stock markets in France, Germany and Britain fell between 0.68 and 0.9 percent.
The market breadth here was very weak. Out of 2,838 stocks traded on the BSE, 999 stocks were up, while 1,786 slipped into the red and 53 traded flat.
Among the biggest losers were Cipla, Satyam Computer, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, Wipro, Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel – all down by 3 to 4 percent.
ONGC, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Ambuja Cements, Ranbaxy Laboratories, ICICI Bank, DLF, Hindustan Unilever and Tata Consultancy Services lost more than 2 percent.