The benchmark equity indices slumped on Thursday as shares of Larsen & Toubro Ltd. and Infosys Ltd. dragged.
The NSE Nifty 50 ended 253.2 points or 1.01% down at 24,888.2, and the BSE Sensex closed 823.16 points or 1% lower at 81,691.98.
The Nifty and Sensex opened on a muted note and traded in a narrow range for most of the session. However, in the last leg of the trade, the Nifty slumped 1.25% or 315.50 points to the day's low of 24,825.9, and the Sensex declined 1.20% or 991.98 points to 81,523.16.
"It was a bear-dominated day of trade. Following a muted start, the Index compounded its losses and a sudden decline in the late afternoon session dragged it further lower to settle the trade at 24,888.2 with a loss of 253.2 points," said Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Share Brokers.
Infosys Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., and Axis Bank Ltd. weighed on the Nifty the most.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., Asian Paints Ltd., Bajaj Finserv Ltd. and Tech Mahindra Ltd. restricted losses to Nifty.
On the National Stock Exchange, all the 15 sectoral indices plunged, with the Nifty Realty, Energy and Defence falling the most.
The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices ended 1.52% and 1.38% down respectively, underperforming the large-cap gauges.
The market breadth was skewed in favour of the sellers as 1,668 stocks declined, 450 advanced and 10 remained unchanged on the NSE.
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