Extending losses for the third straight day, the NSE Nifty fell by over 58 points due to continued selling in some key sectors.
Market participants indulged in sustained offloading of shares in sectors like FMCG, energy, media, banking, infra and metal.
Meanwhile, uncertainties remained in the political sphere despite BJP's Yeddyurappa taking oath as Karnataka chief minister today. He has to prove the majority during the floor test in the assembly in 15 days.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party winning 104 seats, but is short of a simple majority while the Congress and JD(S) have won 78 and 37 seats respectively and claimed their post-poll alliance had the numbers to form the government.
Brent crude oil price climbed to USD 80 a barrel on pick-up in demand and fears of likely supply cuts by OPEC amid simmering geopolitical tensions in the wake of sanctions on Iran by the US.
Overseas, most Asian stocks closed lower as the yield on the US ten-year treasury stayed above 3 per cent.
Besides, market participants remained cautious about the outcome of the US-China trade talks.
China's Shanghai Composite index, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi ended down half a per cent each. European markets were trading marginally higher.
Back home, the 50-share NSE Nifty closed at 10,682.70, down 58.40 points, or 0.54 per cent, its lowest closing since May 4, 2018. The index hit a high of 10,777.25 and a low of 10,664.50 during the day.
It saw an intra-day movement of about 112.75 points.
On the sectoral front, FMCG dropped by 1.28 per cent, followed by energy 0.75 per cent, media 0.66 per cent, private banks 0.57 per cent, infra 0.48 per cent, metal 0.45 per cent, bank 0.41 per cent, financial service 0.25 per cent and IT 0.15 per cent.
On the other hand, realty and pharma rose by 0.10 per cent and 0.05 per cent, respectively.
Major index gainers were Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Coal India, Sun Pharma, Infratel, Tata Motors and Wipro.
Losers included, Hindalco, UPL, ITC, Axis Bank, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Adani Ports and NTPC.
The market breadth turned positive. A total of 932 scrips advanced, 860 declined and 69 remained unchanged. Total securities that touched their price band were 210.
Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 30,694.61 crore from Rs 29,759.39 crore as on Wednesday.
A total of 19,786.80 lakh shares changed hands in 1,08,73,318 trades. The market capitalisation of the listed firms on the NSE stood at Rs 1,46,94,197.35 crore.
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