By IANS
Mumbai : In line with downward global trends, Indian stock markets Wednesday ended sharply in the red on the back of heavy selling in key sectors.
The markets that opened in the red failed to pick up after the day’s opening and the slide continued in the afternoon as heavy selling was witnessed in banking, capital goods, real estate and oil scrips.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 17,991.29 points and notched a high of 17,991.29 before closing at 17,617.60 points. It lost 458.06 points or 2.53 percent at the day’s close.
The S&P CNX Nifty index on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), which opened at 5,267.15 points, closed at 5,154.45 after touching the day’s high at 5,267.15 points.
At close, it registered a fall of 126.35 points or 2.39 percent.
The BSE Midcap index, which closed at 7,589.39 points, went down 95.94 points or 1.25 percent.
Similarly, the BSE Smallcap index, which closed at 9,631.26 points, went down 164.28 points or 1.68 percent.
On BSE, the market breadth was extremely low with low trading volumes. A total of 806 shares advanced, 1,932 shares declined and 58 shares remained unchanged.
Other Asian markets also closed in the red Wednesday.
The top gainers of the day included TCS at Rs.884, up 1.05 percent, Infosys at Rs.1,568.25, up 0.74 percent, Bajaj Auto at Rs.2,339.50, up 0.73 percent and Satyam at Rs.422.50, up 0.21 percent.
The top losers of the day were Tata Steel at Rs.772.60, down 4.92 percent, Maruti Suzuki at Rs.768.70, down 4.76 percent, BHEL at Rs.2,124.20, down 4.54 percent and Tata Motors at Rs.705.70, down 4.36 percent.