Equities fell for the third session in a row to hit nearly two-year lows, mainly on continued selling pressure in state-run PSU banks hit by overnight sluggish earnings results and mounting bad loans amid lingering global slowdown worries.
Shares of banking and financials were hit after four state-run banks yesterday posted losses in fiscal third quarter on mounting bad loans amid deteriorating NPA's situation as part of balance-sheet clean-up.
The market resumed lower on negative Asian trend as investors opted for selling as the sentiments rooted on continued global uncertainties, also mute corporate earnings led the key indices crack below the key 7,200-level during intra- day, before ending in deep red.
Across the spectrum selling was witnessed led by PSU Bank, Financials, Banks, Realty, FMCG, Auto, Media and Pharma counters followed by shares of midcap and smallcap companies.
Elsewhere, Asian markets ended weak as concerns mount over global recession.
European shares trading higher as concerns about the health of banks eased and oil prices recovered from overnight steep fall.
The 50-share Nifty opened gap-down at 7,264.30 and moved between 7,271.85 and 7,177.75 before closing at 7,215.70, showing a fall of 82.50 points, or 1.13 per cent. the weakest closing not seen since May 16,2014.
Major losers were PNB (8.89 per cent), Cairn (6.16 per cent), Tata Motors (6.15 per cent), Bank of Baroda (5.95 per cent), SBIN (4.82 per cent), Indusindbk (3.83 per cent), HDFC (3.74 per cent) and Lupin (2.77 per cent).
Notable gainers included HCLTech (2.09 per cent), BPCL (1.53 per cent), Coal India (1.46 per cent) and Ultracemco (1.14 per cent).
Turnover in cash segment jumped to Rs 17,322.29 crore from Rs 14,857.44 crore yesterday. A total of 10,366.82 lakh shares changed hands in 73,99,768 trades.
The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 87,74,583 crore.
