Ending four days of gaining spree, the benchmark Nifty tanked 61 points and settled below 6,100 at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today on the back of heavy selling led by banks, metal, FMCG and energy stocks.
The market sentiment was dented by weak global cues after the Chinese manufacturing dropped to seven-month low in February, according to a HSBC/Markit survey.
Also, the indication from minutes of US Fed Reserve's January meet that the central bank would keep reducing its bond buying programme, renewed the liquidity concerns.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 468.47 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from stock exchanges.
Banking stocks were battered by profit booking. State- owned Bank of Baroda lost 3.33 per cent, while SBIN dropped 1.82 per cent. Among private lenders, Kotak Bank slipped 2.35 per cent and ICICI bank dipped 2.24 per cent. In metal space, Tata Steel lost 1.90 per cent.
However, drugmaker Dr Reddy's Lab witnessed buying interest and gained 1.78 per cent.
The 50-share Nifty hovered between a high of 6,129.10 and a low of 6,086.45, before closing at 6,091.45, showing a fall of 61.30 points, or 1 per cent, over its previous close.
Other losers included Grasim, IndusInd Bank, ACC, IDFC and Ambuja Cement. JP Associate, Bajaj Auto and Tata Power were some of the gainers.
Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 8.962.28 crore from Rs 7,976.68 crore yesterday. A total of 5,050.65 lakh shares changed hands in 45,82,815 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 65,90,103 crore.
