Sensex tanked 82 points to 21,775. The mood turned bearish after mid-session and hectic selling was witnessed across board.
Selling in Sensex scrip was triggered by Infosys which plunged nine per cent after the company's Chief Executive SD Shibulal hinted that the company's sales growth for the current fiscal year may be near the lower end of its forecast as some of its clients are tightening spending on technology.
Sensex opened on weak note at 21737 against the previous close of 21856. The index made a high of 21991 and low of 21720 before closing at 21775.
The turnover on BSE was higher at Rs 2703 crore against Rs 2454.86 crore on Wednesday.
In NSE, Nifty was down 24 points at 6,493.
Shares of HSIL, the largest Indian sanitaryware manufacturer, gained seven per cent at Rs 118 after 4.96 per cent equity changed hands in two bulk deals on BSE today.
Alex Mathews, Head Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said the markets remained in a range but was well supported by positive economic data which sparked buying in select counters. But profit-booking in the last hour saw the markets slip, he said.
The major gainers were MMTC (10%), BPCL (7%), Hindustan Copper (7%), Power Finance (5%), South Indian Bank (4%), Engineers India (4%) and HPCL (4%).
Prominent losers were Infosys (-9%), L&T Finance Holdings (-7%), GMR Infra (-6%), DLF (-6%), Sun Pharma (-5%), HDIL (-5%), MCX (-5%), and Financial Tech (-4%).
Among Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 14.41 points at 14,815.98 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 140.66 points to 21,761.29.