Indian benchmark indices remained under pressure for the second consecutive session on Wednesday, October 21, as selling across most sectors weighed on sentiment amid elevated crude oil prices and concerns over corporate earnings. The markets opened higher and traded in positive territory for the first couple of hours before profit booking in late-morning trade erased the gains.
The selling pressure dragged the Nifty below 22,650, with auto, metal and consumer durables indices emerging among the worst-performing sectors, each declining around 2 percent. However, gains in Information Technology stocks helped the benchmark indices recover from the day's lows and end the session off their intraday lows.
At close, the Sensex was down 143.21 points or 0.19 percent at 73,709.69, and the Nifty was down 77.60 points or 0.34 percent at 22,811.35.
The broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices, with the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices declining more than 2 percent each.
Bajaj Finance, Eicher Motors, Eternal, BSE, Bajaj Auto were among major losers on the Nifty, while gainers included Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, HCL Technologies and UltraTech Cement.