Indian benchmark indices, the Nifty and the Sensex, shed in excess of 1.5 per cent on Wednesday.
The Nifty lost 102 points or 1.82 per cent to close at 5,505.35, while the Sensex shed 1.54 per cent or 283.36 points to close at 18,145.25.
“The correction has started just a day before the February expiry and will get confirmed as a bear market only if this continues for some more days,” said a dealer from an Indian brokerage.
All the indices on the NSE and the BSE closed in the red, barring the IT sector index. Volatility was up two per cent and the volatility index India Vix closed at 26.8.
Sun Pharma, ITC, TCS, ONGC and Infy were the top five Nifty gainers, while RCom, SBI, DLF, Sterlite and Axis Bank were the top losers.