Closing Bell: Sensex down 303 points, Nifty closes at 16,025

Indian equity benchmarks pared away early gains as
volatility yet again dominated the markets, with the Sensex extending its
decline to the third straight day on Wednesday, losing over 300 points amid a
sell-off in IT stocks.

The BSE Sensex tanked 303.35 points or 0.56% to settle at
53,749.26. During the day, the benchmark touched a low of 53,683.16 and a high
of 54,379.59.

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The NSE Nifty tumbled 99.35 points or 0.62% to end at
16,025.80. The broader indices ended in red with the BSE Midcap
index down by 1.93% and the Small-cap index down by 2.94%.

The only gaining
sectoral index on the BSE was Bankex up by 0.21%, while IT was down by 3.19%,
Realty down by 3.02%, Industrials down by 2.66%, Consumer discretionary down by
2.47% and Capital Goods down by 2.44% were the top losing indices on BSE.

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Major laggards from the Sensex pack were Asian Paints
down by 8.04%, TCS down by 3.69%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.53%, Wipro down by
3.30% and Larsen & Toubro down by 3.09%.

Among the gainers were NTPC up by 3.84%, Kotak Mahindra
Bank up by 1.42%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.41%, HDFC up by 1.35% and Nestle up by
1.02%.

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The rupee surged 3 paise to settle at 77.54 against the US dollar.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday, Hong
Kong, Shanghai and Seoul ended with gains, while Tokyo was marginally lower.

European stock exchanges were trading in the green in the
afternoon trade.

US Stock markets had ended lower on Tuesday.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark jumped 1.37%
to USD 115.1 per barrel.

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According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors continued their selling spree and sold shares worth a net Rs 2,393.45
crore on Tuesday.

“Domestic indices wavered tracking mixed sentiments
from global markets as investors assessed the possibility of a recession in the
US followed by the Fed policy tightening.

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“Global markets are awaiting the release of the Fed
minutes, which will be evaluated for details on the path of the upcoming rate
hikes,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.