Sensex lost 208 points as investors preferred to book profit ahead of the US increasing interest rates sooner than expected.
The benchmark Index opened on the lower side at 27231 against the previous close of 27265 recorded on Tuesday. It made a high of 27251 and low of 27018 before closing at 27057. Turnover on BSE was down at Rs 3,260 crore against Rs 3,427 crore recorded on Tuesday.
In NSE, Nifty was down 59 points at 8,094.
Index heavyweight ITC was down two per cent at Rs 351 on BSE after reports indicated that the government may consider a proposal to ban the sale of loose cigarettes.
Most FMCG stocks including Colgate-Palmolive (India) (down 0.24%), Dabur India (down 1.07%), Hindustan Unilever (down 0.11%), Marico (down 1.46%), Nestle India (down 0.45%) and Tata Global Beverages (down 1.73%) declined on profit-booking.
PSU Oil marketing companies including IOC (down 1.75%), BPCL (down 2.25%) and HPCL (down 1.65%) declined on reports that the Government may cut diesel prices for first time in seven years on decline in crude oil prices.
Brent crude oil for October delivery plunged below the 16-month low of $99 a barrel but recovered to close with a loss of 7 cents at $99.09 a barrel.
Major gainers of day were Suzlon (10%), GSPL (8%), Torrent Power (6%), Pipavav Doc (5%), Bhushan Steel (5%) and MRF (4%).
Prominent losers were Godrej Consumer Products (-5%), J&K Bank (-4%), LIC Housing Finance (-3%), OIL India (-3%), Infratel (-3%), Titan (-3%), SAIL (-3%), Cairn India (-3%) and MRPL (-3%).