Sensex cracks 24,000-mark again; Nifty below 7,200-level

Zee Media Bureau

The benchmark BSE Sensex continued its slide for a third straight session as it fell by over 250 points in afternoon trade Wednesday on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds and selling by retail investors.

In addition, weakness in the rupee against the American currency too weighed on the sentiment.

The 30-share Sensex last quoted down by 248.16 points or 1.03 percent, to trade below 24,000-mark at 23,772.82 after moving in range of  23,938.32 -23,636.72.

Stocks of bank, healthcare, metal, oil&gas and realty were trading in the negative zone with losses up to 1.11 percent.

The gauge had lost 595.99 points in the previous two sessions.

On similar lines, the NSE Nifty fell by 64.90 points, or 0.89 percent to 7,233.30 after making a high and low of 7,271.85-7,177.75.

Major losers that dragged down the indices were Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's, Adani ports, ONGC, GAIL, Sun Pharma, Lupin, M&M and SBI.

Brokers said sentiment remained weak as participants indulged in offloading their positions, tracking a weak trend in Asian region following overnight losses in the US market as investors grappled with weakness in overseas equity markets and another drop in oil prices.

In the Asian region, Asian stock markets took another battering today, with Tokyo leading a day of sharp losses as investors grow increasingly concerned about the world economy and the possibility of a global recession.

Japan`s Nikkei index lost 2.3 percent to close at its lowest level since October 2014, extending the 5.4 percent collapse Tuesday as the yen climbed against the dollar.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.08 percent lower yesterday.

With Agency Inputs