Equities remained under immense selling pressure for the third-straight session with the benchmark Nifty sliding over 41 points as investors fretted over weak earnings amid gloomy overseas cues.
Disappointing macro-data outcome after private sector activity in the country eased amid slower expansion in new business inflows in services sector.
The Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index, which maps both manufacturing and services sectors, dropped from 54.3 in March (37-month high) to 52.8 in April.
The overall market sentiment stayed depressed with lingering concerns over slowing global growth following soft manufacturing data in China while UK's PMI unexpectedly shows manufacturing activities slipped to contraction in April amid some caution ahead of US jobs data later this week.
With earnings season underway, investors largely remained sidelined and focused on corporate financial results before taking call on the market, a trader said.
Continued capital outflows too added uncomfortable for the market at this juncture, he added.
Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 755.28 crs yesterday, as per provisional data.
Bourses witnessed high volatility throughout the day with intense selling in frontline heavyweight as the benchmark briefly slipped below the key 7,700 mark in afternoon trade before regaining some lost ground.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japanse equities got hammered with the Nikkei indices slumping over 3.11 per cent, HangSeng 0.73 per cent, Kospi 0.49 per cent and Shanghai 0.05 per cent.
The 50-share index resumed lower at 7,724.15 and moved in a range of 7,749 and 7,697.25 before closing at 7,706.55, showing a sharp fall of 40.45 points, or 0.52 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices, Metal hit hard and tumbled 3.82 per cent. It was followed by PSU Bank (2.52 per cent), Realty (2.44 per cent), Auto (2.13 per cent), Infra (1.70 per cent), FMCG (0.94 per cent), Nifty Bank (0.70 per cent) and Energy (0.42 per cent).
The Mid-cap and Small-cap also plunged by 1.46 per cent and 1.72 per cent, respectively.
However, Technology and Healthcare outperformed on the Nifty with respective gains of 0.21 and 0.30 per cent.
Top losers stockwise were Tata Motors, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, ITC, Bharti Infratel, ZEE, SBI, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, Yes Bank and L&T.
Notable gainers included HDFC, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma, HCL-Tech, Kotak Mahindra, NTPC, Reliance, Indusind Bank, HUL and Heromotocorp.
Turnover in cash segment fell to Rs 16,019.07 crore compared with Rs 18,409.63 crore yesterday.
A total of 8,590.85 lakh shares changed hands in 73,18,150 trades. The market capitalisation of the NSE stood at Rs 93,71,020 crore.
