Benchmark Nifty continued to fall for third straight day as the Rail Budget failed to bolster sentiment, with the index shedding 48 points to close below the crucial 7,000-level on the back of selling in banks, auto, IT, financials, PSU Banks, energy and infra counters.
The key index, though, opened positive ahead of the Rail Budget, but could not sustain the momentum as volatility struck during Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's budget address.
Despite a proposal for huge 21 per cent increase in capital outlay for the Railways, traders reduced positions on February derivatives expiry day amid renewed global uncertainty due to volatile crude situation.
The rupee's losses against the dollar also added to selling pressure, while caution prevailed ahead of the General Budget due next week.
However, pharma and metal bucked the trend, while the broader mid-cap and small-cap shares underperformed their larger peers.
Elsewhere, Asian markets ended mixed, while European stocks opened higher.
The 50-share Nifty opened higher at 7,029.85 and hovered between 7,034.20 and 6,961.40 before closing at 6,970.60, showing a fall of 48.10 points, or 0.69 per cent.
Major losers were Power Grid (5.69 per cent), Yes Bank (2.92 per cent), SBI (2.88 per cent), GAIL (2.77 per cent), ACC (2.70 per cent), Bank of Baroda (2.69 per cent), L&T (2.38 per cent), Axis Bank (2.19 per cent) and ICICI Bank (2.14 per cent).
Notable gainers were ONGC (3.27 per cent), Sun Pharma (2.43 per cent), HDFC (2.01 per cent), Idea (1.48 per cent) and Coal India (1.41 per cent).
Turnover in cash segment jumped to Rs 18,482.58 crore from Rs 13,095.88 crore yesterday.
A total of 10,701.02 lakh shares changed hands in 74,42,852 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 84,37,300 crore.
