Sensex ends 124 points lower, Nifty below 9,500 a day before expiry

Benchmark indices ended lower as investors stayed on edge ahead of the June F&O expiry. Extending losses for sixth straight session, Nifty slipped below its crucial 9,500 levels as weakness in lenders continued on provisioning worries.
 
Sentiment was also dampened as concerns of bloated valuations following a record-setting rally lowered risk appetite.
 
But the broader markets gained strength, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.2% each in an otherwise lower market.
 
Street was in line with the global sentiment as Asian shares slumped after Wall Street was knocked hard in the wake of a delay to a US healthcare reform vote.
 
The S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 30,834, down 124 points, while the broader Nifty50 ended at 9,491, down 20 points.

"Pressure of F&O expiry and weakness in rupee framed a range bound session of trade. Despite the burden of higher provisions on bad loans, short covering in some of the major PSU banks ahead of derivatives expiry held the market from slipping further," Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services in a note.
 
Buzzing Stocks
 
Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, HDFC and ONGC were top losers among Sensex stocks, down 1-2.5% whereas Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Wipro and PowerGrid gained 1-2%.
 
ICICI Bank gained 1% on BSE after the bank said that it raised Rs 2147 crore by allotting long term bonds.

Fortis Healthcare advanced 1.2% after reports suggested that its diagnostic arm may list on the bourses.

 
The Nifty PSU Bank indexpared some losses after slidong over 1% ro end 0.5% lower a day after a news report said the central bank has ordered lenders to raise their provisioning against loans undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank slipped in the range of 1% to 2%.

Global Markets
 
Asian stocks were mostly under pressure Wednesday following a weak Wall Street lead as tech stocks faded again and a critical vote to replace Obamacare was delayed, while the euro rallied after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi hinted that the ECB could trim its stimulus this year.
 
European bourses were lower during mid-morning trade on Wednesday, as technology stocks slumped after weakness seen on Wall Street in the previous session. The pan-European Stoxx 600 moved down 0.61% with almost all sectors and major bourses in negative territory. FTSE fell 0.2% whille CAC and DAX shed over 0.5%
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.4%, pulling further away from more than two-year highs probed earlier this week. On Monday, it touched its highest level since May 2015
 
Japan's Nikkei share average ended down 0.5%, facing headwinds from the dollar's reversal of its rise against the yen.