Mumbai: Indian equity benchmarks lost further ground in the last half hour of trade as profit booking picked up pace. Sensex, which saw nearly 350 points rally in the previous two sessions, lost more than 200 points today despite positive European cues. Meanwhile, the Nifty dived below the 4900-mark.
Lots of short positions were built up in banking, auto and select metal stocks ahead of F&O expiry tomorrow. Capital goods and technology companies' shares too added pressure.
Ashish Chaturmuhta of IIFL Private Wealth Management said there was a lot of put writing happening at the 4,800 level. "The Nifty can go towards 4,820-4,800 level but around those levels we may see some kind of support emerging in the market."
He sees expiry around the 4,850-4,880 levels.
The 30-share BSE Sensex shed 213 points, to close at 16,285 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 60 points, to end at 4,889.
On the global front, Asian markets closed down 0.5-2 per cent. However, European markets were trading 0.4-1.2 per cent higher.
On the home turf, the BSE Metal and Auto indices dropped over 2 per cent. Bank, Capital Goods, IT and Realty indices fell 1-1.6 per cent.
Heavyweight SBI was the leading loser on Nifty falling over 3.5 per cent. IDFC and Axis Bank were down 3-4 per cent. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and PNB lost 0.7-2 per cent.
TCS, L&T tumbled 2 per cent each. Tata group companies' shares like Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Power slipped 3.5-4.5 per cent.
Bharti Airel, Reliance Industries, NTPC and ITC dropped 0.5-1 per cent.
However, Power Grid, ONGC, HUL, Hindalco, Grasim, Ranbaxy Labs and Reliance Communications were only gainers.
The broader indices like BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices slipped 0.5 per cent each.
Volume increased significantly ahead of F&O expiry; total traded turnover was more than Rs 1.9 lakh crore.
About 1343 shares advanced while 1543 shares declined on the BSE.
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