Mumbai, Sept. 2 -- Stock markets declined for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, with the benchmark Sensex closing nearly 374 points lower amid a bearish trend in global equities and higher oil prices due to escalating conflict in West Asia.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 373.93 points, or 0.49 per cent, to settle at 76,570.35, dragged by selling in auto, IT, and banking shares. During the day, it tumbled 808.56 points, or 1.05 per cent, to 76,135.72.
The 50-share NSE Nifty slumped 141.35 points, or 0.59 per cent, to end at 23,914.45. The index moved between a high of 23,914.45 and a low of 23,786.80 during the day.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Tech, Bharat Electronics and Infosys were the major laggards.
Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, NTPC and Titan were among the winners.
Broader markets also declined as the BSE SmallCap Select index dropped 0.61 per cent and the MidCap Select index dipped 0.51 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, Auto dropped the most by 1.68 per cent and IT tanked 1.17 per cent. Focused IT (1.10 per cent), Insurance (1.09 per cent), Capital Goods (1.08 per cent), Consumer Discretionary (0.86 per cent) and Consumer Discretionary (0.86 per cent) also closed lower.
Energy, Utilities, Power, Realty, Services, Housing Finance and PSU Bank were the winners.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.40 per cent to USD 95.13 per barrel.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi tumbled 3.99 per cent, and Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 2.85 per cent. Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also ended lower.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.