Mumbai, Dec 22 (IANS) The key Indian equity market indices that opened flat on Thursday plunged into red during the afternoon session due to heavy selling by retail investors.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading 84.65 points or 1.05 percent down at 7,976.65 points.
The Sensex of the BSE, which opened at 26,224.07 points, was trading at 25,980.69 points (at 1.19 p.m.) in the afternoon session, down 261.69 points or 1 per cent from the previous day's close at 26,242.38 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 26,248.45 points and a low of 25,965.42 points in the trade so far.
Almost all the sectors were trading in red and heavy selling pressure was seen in metal, basic materials, telecom and utilities sectors.
The S&P BSE metal index plunged by 2.64 per cent, basic materials index dropped by 1.98 per cent, telecom index slipped by 1.60 per cent and utilities index fell by 1.52 per cent.
