The Nifty and the Sensex shed 79 and 77 basis points respectively on Euro zone worries.
The Nifty closed at 4,950.75 down 39 points and the Sensex at 16312.15, down 126 points.
Market men said that volatility was high and the two benchmarks remained in the red throughout the day.
The Spanish banking sector needs immediate recapitalisation as their quantum of bad loans have piled up and this could increase the chances of a default on sovereign debt,” said a Head of Research from an Indian brokerage.
India Vix, the volatility index closed 5.3 per cent up at 25.30.
On the NSE, only FMCG, IT, Media and MNC Indices closed marginally in the green.
On the BSE, only the IT and TECk indices closed marginally in the green.
Ambuja, ACC, Maruti Sun Pharma and HUL were the top Nifty gainers while Tata Motors, RInfra, IDFC, BHEL and DLF were the top losers.