Sensex falls over 240 points, Nifty ends below 10,850

New Delhi: Markets posted massive drop in closing trade on Tuesday with both Sensex and Nifty dropping over half a percent as investors keenly await the key inflation data due later in the day.

The BSE Sensex tanked 241.41 points or 0.66 percent to 36,153.62 while the NSE Nifty dropped 57.40 points or 0.53 percent to 10,831.40.

Investors sold heavily on realty, IT, FMCG and banking counters ahead of index of industrial production (IIP) data for December and consumer price inflation (CPI) numbers for January to be released later in the day.

The 30-stock index touched high of 36,465.40 and low of 36,405.72. The gauge had lost 580 points in the previous three sessions. The Nifty oscillated between intra-day high of 10,910,90 and low of 10,823.80 during the day.

Top losers include Hero MotoCorp, HDFC, SBI, Infosys, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, ONGC, Bajaj Auto and IndusInd Bank, falling up to 2.63 percent. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Coal India, Tata Steel, NTPC, Asian Paints, Vedanta, M&M and RIL were the gainers, rising up to 2 percent.

On a net basis, FPIs sold shares worth Rs 125.05 crore, while DIIs offlaoded shares worth Rs 232.55 crore.

With Agency Inputs