Mumbai: The BSE Sensex fell over 283 points Wednesday to 18,145.25 in heavy selling towards the close on profit booking at 7-month high levels ahead of the settlement in this month's derivative contracts and weak openings in the European markets.
Realty, consumer durables, metals, banking, power, PSU and capital goods faced sell-offs.
The country's largest lender SBI was the top loser from the Sensex pack, falling 7.91 percent on reports that the bank has committed to provide loan of around Rs 1,200 crore to the debt laden Kingfisher Airlines.
Fall in ICICI Bank, HDFC, RIL, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Sterlite, L&T, DLF, BHEL and Hindalco washed out almost 200 points from the index.
The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share Sensex initially touched a 7-month high of 18,523.78 and moved in a narrow range till afternoon.
But selling by investors at that level pulled it down to 18,145.25, erasing 283.36 points or 1.54 percent. In last two sessions, it had risen 274.62 points or 1.51 percentt.
The NSE 50-issue index Nifty also tumbled 101.80 points or 1.82 percent to 5,505.35.
"Volatility associated with the penultimate day of derivative series expiry was very much visible today," said Shanu Goel, Research Analyst at Bonanza Portfolio.
"Negative openings in European markets again negated the sentiments. Market is likely to witness increased volatility and global developments related to Greece and US economy will continue to influence the market sentiment," she added.
FIIs continued to buy stocks and picked up shares worth Rs 1,494.60 crore yesterday as per Sebi data. They have pumped in over Rs 20,000 crore since the start of this year.
Globally, key indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan made gains, while Singapore closed with losses. European stock markets were trading weak on data that the euro-zone business has contracted in this month.
Besides, investor doubts remained over the Greek bailout package and growing concerns over rising oil prices.
Of the 30 Sensex scrips, 24 ended lower. Major losers were DLF (7.69 percent), Sterlite (6.62 percent), Jindal Steel (4.82 percent), Hindalco (4.73 percent), Tata Steel (4.25 percent), Tata Power (3.85 percent), BHEL (3.57 percent), ICICI (3.42 percent), Bharti Airtel (3.33 percent), M&M (2.39 percent), HDFC (2.09 percent), NTPERCENT (1.91 percent), Gail India (1.64 percent), L&T (1.50 percent), Tata Motors (1.27 percent) and RIL (1.02 percent).
In all, 12 of the 13 sectoral indices lost up to 0.58 percent, with only BSE-IT finishing with gains.
The BSE-Realty plunged 6.77 percent, Consumer Durables - 4.93 percent, Metals - 4.29 percent, Bankex - 3.82 percent, Power - 3.75 percent, PSU - 2.71 percent and Capital Goods - 2.35 percent.
The market breadth turned negative as 2,208 stocks ended with losses, while only 769 made gains. The total turnover rose to Rs 3,852.67 crore from Rs 3,537.89 crore.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2012, 16:19