Continuing decline for the third straight session, the NSE Nifty lost 34.50 points on bouts of selling pressure in key IT, energy, FMCG, metal and realty counters, despite a rebound in global equities.
The bourses opened strong on value buying amid rebound in Chinese and other Asian stocks after its overnight sharp fall, but soon witnessed choppiness reflecting investors caution as all cynosure was on Q1 earning results season starting today.
The late session saw the intense selling activity, though buying Infra, banking and pharma counters capped the larger fall.
Meanwhile, country second largest IT service major TCS will announce its first quarter earnings after market hours.
The 50-share barometer opened slightly higher at 8,364.85 and hovered between a high of 8,400.30 and a low of 8,323.00 before closing at 8,328.55, showing a loss of 34.50 points, or 0.41 per cent.
Elsewhere, the Asian markets saw a rebound with Chinese stocks recovering 5.8 percent following regulatory support, while European market rallied on hopes over fresh Greek proposals.
Stock-wise, major losers were BPCL (5.40 per cent), VEDL (4.67 per cent), TCS (2.80 per cent), Bajaj-Auto (2.34 per cent), Infy (2.04 per cent), Tata Motors (1.77 per cent), Tata Steel (0.94 per cent) and Reliance (0.92 per cent).
While the notable gainers were, BHEL (3.32 per cent), L&T (2.35 per cent), HeroMotocorp (2.15 per cent), Hindalco (2.11 per cent) and ACC (1.18 per cent).
Turnover in the cash segment dropped to Rs 15,285.72 crore as against Rs 20,590.43 crore yesterday.
A total of 8,621.89 lakh shares changed hands in 74,98,095 trades and the total market capitalisation of the NSE stood at Rs 99,01,430 crore.
