Indian markets fell over 0.5 per cent at the end of the session on Tuesday due to heavy selling in banking, consumer durables, PSU and capital goods stocks amid firm European cues.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 102.59 points (0.53 per cent) at 19,223.28 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 36.45 points (0.62 per cent) at 5,813.60.
Banking and consumer durables indices fell the most and were down by 1.2 per cent and 1.09 per cent, respectively, followed by PSU 0.91 per cent and capital goods 0.86 per cent.
On the other hand, metal and TECk indices found investors' support and were up by 0.75 per cent and 0.67 per cent, respectively, followed by IT 0.57 per cent and healthcare 0.05 per cent.
Among 30-share Sensex, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power, Infosys and Hero MotoCorp were the top five gainers, while the top five losers were NTPC, Bharti Airtel, GAIL, HDFC Bank and ONGC.
European stocks erased their initial losses as investors awaited US housing data to gauge whether the Federal Reserve will signal stimulus cuts at its policy meeting beginning today. Asian stocks were little changed. The US Fed buys treasury and other bonds worth $85 billion every month.
In the Asian trade, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 25.84 points or 0.2 per cent at 13,007.28 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.02 points or 0.00 per cent at 21,225.88.
In the European markets, Stoxx 50 was up 3.63 points or 0.13 per cent at 2,706.32, FTSE 100 climbed 49.11 points or 0.78 per cent to 6,379.60 and DAX was up 9.84 points or 0.12 per cent at 8,225.57.