Market benchmark Nifty slipped by 58 points as August futures and options (F&O) contracts expired and failed to sustain the positive momentum following heavy fag-end selling.
Selling was seen mainly in metal, infra, IT, media, PSU Bank, realty, auto, pharma and energy counters amid weakness in European stocks.
European markets were posting sharp losses, dragged down by mining and healthcare stocks as investors were cautious ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that could provide hints on the timing of a US interest rate hike.
In Asia, Nikkei index and China's Shanghai Composite ended marginally lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged higher.
The 50-share Nifty opened higher at 8,668.85 and hovered between a high of 8,683.05 and a low of 8,583.65, before ending at 8,592.20, showing a fall of 58.10 points or 0.67 per cent.
It witnessed an intra-day movement of about 99.40 points.
On the sectoral front, Metal fell by 1.61 per cent, followed by PSU Bank (1.26 per cent), Infra (1.14 per cent), IT (1.12 per cent), Media (1.11 per cent), Realty (0.71 per cent), Auto (0.61 per cent), Pharma (0.40 per cent), Energy (0.35 per cent) and Banks (0.27 per cent).
However, Nifty FMCG gained 0.40 per cent.
Notable Index laggards were Adani Ports (3.09 per cent), Wipro (3.01 per cent), Idea (2.75 per cent) , Zee (2.11 per cent), Bharti Infratel (2.11 per cent), TechM (2.10 per cent), HDFC (1.99 per cent), Infosys (1.94 per cent), SBI (1.93 per cent) and Tata Steel (1.83 per cent).
Notable gainers included BHEL (3.00 per cent), BPCL (2.84 per cent), GAIL (2.07 per cent), ITC (1.28 per cent) and HCL Tech (0.97 per cent).
A total of 942 scrips declined, 640 rose, while 75 were unchanged. Total securities that hit their price band were 96.
Turnover in cash segment rose to Rs 25,162.87 crore from Rs 18,386.37 crore as on Wednesday.
A total of 12,782.31 lakh shares changed hands in 82,08,859 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 107,15,110.44 crore.
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