The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes reversed directions in the last hour of trade dragged by losses in banking, financial services and auto shares. For most part of the day markets traded firmly higher wherein the Sensex surged as much as 878 points and the Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 9,261. However, the surge which came on the back of positive global cues, fizzled out as profit booking at higher levels led to correction in the benchmarks, analysts said. The Sensex crashed 1,346 points from day's highest point and the Nifty 50 index dropped below important psychological level of 8,900.
The Sensex closed 310 points or 1 per cent lower at 30,380 and the NSE Nifty 50 index dropped 69 points or 0.8 per cent to settle at 8,925.
Weakness in European markets and US equity market futures also dampened the investor sentiment on Dalal Street. The French CAC40, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE100 indexes fell between 1.8-2 per cent each.
Five off 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Financial Services index's 2.5 per cent drop. Nifty Bank, Auto, Private Bank and Pharma sector gauges also ended lower.
On the other hand, Nifty FMCG index was top gainer, up 4 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes rose 1.3 per cent each.
Kotak Mahindra Bank was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares. The stock dropped 6 per cent to Rs 1,180. Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, Bharti Infratel and Bajaj Auto also fell between 2-5 per cent.
On the flipside, UPL was top gainer, up 8 per cent to Rs 351. Hindustan Unilever, Britannia Industries, HCL Technologies, ITC and Shree Cements were also among the gainers.
