The Sensex and Nifty plunged 0.9 per cent at the closing session on Thursday due to heavy selling in oil & gas stocks after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday decided to defer revision in natural gas prices by three months.
Domestic sentiment was also dampened due to offloading of positions by participants ahead of June month F&O expiry today.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended at 25,062.67, down 251.07 points and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended at 7,493.20, down 76.05 points.
Among BSE sectoral indices,
On the other hand, consumer durables and capital goods stocks were the star-performers and were up 0.88 per cent and 0.64 per cent, respectively, followed by healthcare 0.3 per cent and TECk 0.15 per cent.
Wipro, L&T, Dr Reddy's, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank were the major Sensex gainers, while the major losers were ONGC, RIL, NTPC, Coal India and HDFC.
European stocks rebounded from a four-day losing streak, as investors awaited data to assess the health of the US economy. Asian stocks were up despite data yesterday showing the US economy fell at a 2.9 per cent annual pace in the quarter to March, worse than previous estimates.
Investors were optimistic that the US economy is emerging from a worse-than-estimated contraction last quarter. They were bullish following a report that Washington is to lift a decades-old crude export ban.
Market participants were also keeping an eye on a slew of latest economic figures, including personal income, personal spending and initial jobless claims data out later today, for further clues about the US economy.