Sensex tumbles over 300 points in volatile trade

Mumbai: Benchmark indices wiped out early gains as volatility yet again ruled the markets, with the Sensex extending its decline to the third day running on Wednesday, falling over 300 points amid a sell-off in IT stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 303.35 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 53,749.26. During the day, the bechmark hit a low of 53,683.16 and a high of 54,379.59.

The broader NSE Nifty declined 99.35 points or 0.62 per cent to end at 16,025.80.

From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, State Bank of India, HCL Technologies and M&M were among the biggest laggards.

In contrast, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Nestle, ICICI Bank and ITC were the prominent gainers.

Asian markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul ended with gains, while Tokyo was marginally lower.

Exchanges in Europe were trading in the green in the afternoon trade.

Stock markets in the US had mostly ended lower on Tuesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.37 per cent to USD 115.1 per barrel.

Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2,393.45 crore on Tuesday, as per stock exchange data.

"Domestic indices wavered tracking mixed sentiments from global markets as investors assessed the possibility of a recession in the US followed by the Fed policy tightening.

"Global markets are awaiting the release of the Fed minutes, which will be evaluated for details on the path of the upcoming rate hikes," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.