Stock markets fall for 3rd day on selling in IT, banking shares

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Wednesday, marking their third straight day of losses due to selling in IT and select banking shares and foreign fund outflows.

Falling for a third day, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 159.21 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 59,567.80. During the day, it fell 274.29 points or 0.45 per cent to 59,452.72.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 41.40 points or 0.23 per cent to end at 17,618.75.

Among the Sensex firms, HCL Technologies, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Wipro, NTPC, Asian Paints, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India and UltraTech Cement were the major laggards.

Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance and Reliance Industries were among the winners.

In Asian markets, Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower, while Seoul ended in the green.

Equity markets in Europe were trading mostly in negative territory. The US markets had ended mostly lower on Tuesday.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 810.60 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Brent crude fell 2.23 per cent to USD 82.88 per barrel.