Indian equities dropped on Thursday erasing earlier gains due to profit booking seen in select heavyweights. IT, pharma, metal and banking stocks pulled the sentiment down.
At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex lost 167.36 points or 0.34% at 49,624.76 with 24 components posting drop. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty went down by 54.35 points or 0.37% at 14,590.35 with 44 components posting drop.
ITC contributed fall of 96.75 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (87.45 points), State Bank Of India (47.24 points), HDFC Bank (44.78 points) and Housing Development Finance Corporation (37.33 points).
However, Tata Motors contributed rise of 92.63 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Reliance Industries (89 points), Bajaj Auto (21.52 points), ICICI Bank (18.69 points) and Hindustan Unilever (7.94 points).
Biggest gainers in the 30-share index were Bajaj Finance (2.72%), Bajaj Auto (2.71%), Reliance Industries (2.09%), Bajaj Finserv (1.23%), and Asian Paints (0.62%).
On the other hand, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (4%), Bharti Airtel (2.56%), State Bank Of India (2.51%), Indusind Bank (2.25%), NTPC (2.19%) and Sun Pharma (1.95%) were the biggest losers in the Sensex.
Market breadth was negative with 1,108 advances against 1,912 declines.