The Sensex and the Nifty fell over 0.7 per cent at the end of the session on Wednesday on heavy selling in oil & gas, auto and realty stocks amid weak European cues.
At 3.30 p.m., the Sensex was trading down 153.09 points or 0.79 per cent at 19,286.39 and the Nifty was trading down 46.55 points or 0.79 per cent at 5,812.45.
On the BSE, consumer durables index was the major gainer and was up 1.48 per cent, followed by IT 0.86 per cent and TECK 0.38 per cent.
On the other hand, oil & gas, realty and auto indices were the worst-hit and were down 1.74 per cent, 1.46 per cent and 1.35 per cent, respectively.
Wipro, Tata Power, Infosys, Jindal Steel and TCS were the top five Sensex gainers, while the top five losers were Hindalco, M&M, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel and RIL.
European and Asian shares were down after data showed Chinese exports fell for the first time since January 2012, adding to sentiment that its economy continues to lose steam.
China reported a 3.7 per cent drop in exports and 0.7 fall in imports, signalling that global economy is not growing as it is deemed to be and the weakness could persist.
Also, investors awaited the minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting, where US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is expected to spell out the country’s policy on whether the programme to boost the economy will continue.
Stoxx 50 was down 13.96 points or 0.52 per cent at 2,650.18, FTSE 100 fell 27.91 points or 0.43 per cent to 6,485.17 and DAX fell 29.62 points or 0.37 per cent to 8,028.13.
Nikkei was down 56.30 points or 0.39 per cent at 14,416.60, Hang Seng rose 201.98 points or 0.98 per cent to 20,885.00 and S&P/ASX 200 was up 19.70 points or 0.4 per cent at 4,901.36.