Mumbai: Continuing its downward spiral, the benchmark BSE Sensex on Thursday tumbled by 118 points to settle at 26,599.11 -- its lowest closing in 6-1/2 months -- on rupee breaching 64-level, rising oil prices and MAT worries.
The NSE Nifty also fell below the 8,000-level intra-day.
Persistent selling by foreign investors over taxation worries, delay in passage of reform bills and disappointing earning numbers bogged down markets, traders said.
Sentiment was also dampened as rupee breached 64-level to fall to a 20-month low, fading chances of a rate cut by the RBI at its meeting next month, they added.
Globally, markets were unsettled on a sell-off in government bonds, stocks and the dollar as well a increase in oil prices showed little sign of relenting.
Weak show by Asian markets following downbeat closing on Wall Street had a negative rub off on markets here.
"Concern over surging oil prices, rupee depreciation against the dollar and Greece are the key issues, which are spooking the markets. Besides, participants are also cautious due to uncertainty over the GST bill," said Jayant Manglik, President of Retail distribution at Religare Securities.
The 30-share Sensex fell 118.26 points or 0.44 percent to close at 26,599.11, its weakest closing since October 21. The gauge shuttled between 26,423.99 and 26,850.37 intra-day.
Yesterday, it had collapsed by 722.77 points or 2.63 percent.
Today was the third-straight session of decline with the index having lost 891.48 points during this period.
The NSE Nifty index also ended with a loss of 39.70 points or 0.49 percent at 8,057.30 -- its weakest close since December 17. Intra-day, it dipped below the crucial 8,000-level to touch a low of 7,997.15.
Meanwhile, Sensex has retreated by 3,425.63 points or 11.40 per cent from record high of 30,024.74 reached on March 4, while Nifty plunged 1,061.90 points or 11.64 percent from its record high of 9,119.20 touched on March 4.
Banking, realty, consumer durable, oil&gas, healthcare and auto stocks were at the receiving end.
The broader markets remained under heavy selling pressure from cautious retail investors with the BSE midcap and smallcap indices falling by 1.95 and 1.68 percent, respectively.
Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 1,699.60 crore and Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,454.97 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.
"Local indices slipped down for a third-straight session to end to their lowest close in nearly seven months on continued selling by foreign investors on worries over retrospective tax," said Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research at Veracity Broking Services.
Overseas, key indices in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan dropped between 0.65 and 2.77 percent.
European markets too were trading sharply lower in their late morning deals. The France's CAC was down by 2.07 percent, Germany DAX by 1.41 percent and the UK FTSE by 1.50 percent.
In New York, the US stocks ended lower yesterday, after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen warned of high share valuations, adding to anxiety over future interest rates.
Back home, out of 30 Sensex stocks, 18 ended in the red.
Axis Bank was the biggest loser with a fall of 2.95 percent, followed by ONGC 2.94 percent, Maruti Suzuki 2.52 percent, Hindalco 2.47 percent, ICICI Bank 2.44 percent, Tata Power 2.32 percent and Dr Reddy's 2.19 percent.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, bankex plunged by 2.33 percent, realty 2.20 percent, consumer durables 2.01 percent, oil&gas 1.96 percent, healthcare 1.37 percent and auto 1.12 percent, while IT firmed up by 1.63 percent and teck by 1.31 percent.
The market breadth remained negative as 1,858 stocks finished with losses, 813 stocks ended in the green, while 109 ruled steady.
The total turnover fell to Rs 3,182.30 crore from Rs 3,565.06 crore yesterday.
