Mumbai, May 29 (IANS) Broadly negative global cues, along with persistent selling by foreign investors and profit booking subdued the Indian equity indices on Tuesday.
According to market observers, a depreciation in the rupee and a slight rise in global crude oil prices also eroded investor sentiments.
Index-wise, the broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,633.30 points -- down by 55.35 points or 0.52 per cent -- from its previous close of 10,688.65 points.
Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), which had opened at 35,213.14 points ended in the red. It closed at 34,949.24 points -- lower by 216.24 points or 0.61 per cent -- from its previous session's close of 35,165.48 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 35,234.14 points and a low of 34,922.18 points during the intra-day trade.
In the broder market the S&P BSE mid-cap declined by 0.44 per cent and the S&P BSE small-cap ended 0.26 per cent lower that its previous close. The BSE market breadth was tilted towards the bears with 1,470 declines against 1,214 advances.
"Markets corrected on Tuesday after three sessions of gains. The weakness came on the back of weak global cues mainly led by crisis in Italy and its repercussions on EU (European Union)," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
Jasani further told IANS: "Major Asian markets have closed on a negative note. European indices like FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX are trading in the red."
Tradebulls's Director and Chief Operating Officer, Dhruv Desai said: "Sensex and Nifty traded on the lower side, following mixed sentiment in global equities and selling by foreign investors."
Further, on the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened by 43 paise against the US dollar to 67.87, from its previous close at 67.44 per greenback.
Besides, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 795.06 crore, while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 1,017.65 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE auto index rose by 106.12 points, the oil and gas index was up by 69.44 points and the IT index gained by 44.81 points.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE banking index plunged by 480.26 points, the consumer durable index fell by 162.89 points and the healthcare index ended 105.90 points lower.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra and Mahindra, up 2.26 per cent at Rs 868.80; Bharti Airtel, up 1.08 per cent at Rs 378.25; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 0.54 per cent at Rs 3,522.70; Hero MotoCorp, up 0.43 per cent at Rs 3,612.35; and Infosys, up 0.18 per cent at Rs 1,216.65 per share.
The top losers were ICICI Bank, down 2.87 per cent at Rs 290.65; State Bank of India, down 2.70 per cent at Rs 264.90; IndusInd Bank, down 2.08 per cent at Rs 1,877.55; Yes Bank, down 1.78 per cent at Rs 338.45; and Asian Paints, down 1.54 per cent at Rs 1,299.15 per share.
