Sensex, Nifty fall sharply in volatile trade (Roundup)

A benchmark index for Indian equities, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange, closed 170.45 points, or 0.62 percent, down on Wednesday after a session of volatile trade.

The market also dropped as big corporates like HDFC and Bharti Airtel's January-March earnings were lower than expected.

The 30-share Sensex, which opened at 27,395.71 points, closed at 27,225.93 points -- down 170.45 points, or 0.62 percent, over the previous day's close at 27,396.38 points. It touched a high of 27,438.96 points and a low of 27,176.54 points in the day's trade.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed 45.85 points or 0.55 percent lower.

In Wednesday's trade, heavy selling pressure was seen in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), auto and oil and gas sectors, while some good buying was observed in realty sector.

Foreign funds remained net sellers to the tune of $240.82 million on Wednesday.

Among the 12 sector-specific indices of the Mumbai bourse, that for FMCG index dropped by 1.63 percent, auto index fell by 0.57 percent and oil and gas index went down by 0.51 percent. However, realty index gained by 0.92 percent.

The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices were down 0.46 percent and 0.27 percent, respectively, while mid-cap index was higher by around 0.39 percent. Small-cap stocks ended 1.10 percent higher.

The major Sensex gainers on Wednesday were: Axis Bank, up 3.30 percent at Rs.552.90; GAIL, up 2.01 percent at Rs.366.05; Wipro, up 1.87 percent at Rs.541.40; and Sun Pharma, up 1.61 percent at Rs.939.25.

The losers were: Bharti Airtel, down 3.32 percent at Rs.387.50; ITC, down 2.76 percent at Rs.328.20; Sesa Sterlite, down 2.15 percent at Rs.207.15; and HDFC, down 2.11 percent at Rs.1,201.80.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went up by 0.38 percent while China's Shanghai Composite Index went down by 0.01 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng also dropped by 0.15 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 fell by 0.09 percent, France's CAC 40 went down by 0.08 percent and Germany's DAX Index was lower by 0.21 percent at the closing in the Indian markets.