The NSE benchmark Nifty closed lower by 26 points in subdued trade as front-line heavyweights, including high momentum stocks fell prey to fresh bouts of selling despite strong overseas sentiment.
After a better start, the key indices turned highly volatile and traded between gains and losses in most part of the session in the absence of any definite domestic cues.
Defensives like IT and healthcare alongside energy, financials and infra counters saw large amount of selling, while FMCG and realty stocks garnered the most buying.
The 50-share index fluctuated between a high of 8,588.35 and a low of 8,523.90 before finishing at 8,538.30, showing a loss of 26.10 points, or 0.30 per cent.
Elsewhere in Asia, equities surged way ahead with Shanghai and Japan indices hitting fresh multi-year highs amid expectations of fresh stimulus measures from the European Central Bank (ECB) and also ahead of the much-anticipated US employment data.
Meanwhile, the 5 per cent share sale offer in steel major SAIL got over-subscribed today by nearly 1.5 times. The offering would be the first PSU share sale under the Modi government.
TCS, Infosys, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Wipro, Dr Reddy's lab TechM, SBI, HCL-Tech, Cipla, Tata Motors, BPCL, Heromotoco, Hindalco, Asian paints, HUL and Bharti Airtel topped among Nifty losers.
Second-line stocks, mainly in MNC engineering and insurance witnessed huge unwinding after its recent sharp rally.
On the gainers side, FMCG major ITC emerged as the star performer for the second day was up by over 2 per cent. Other key movers included M&M, Sesa Sterlite, Kotak Bank, Ambuja Cement, PNB, DLF, Bank of Baroda, HDFC and HDFC Bank.
Turnover in the cash segment dropped to Rs 17,152.37 crore compared to Rs 18,359.40 crore yesterday. A total of 9,364.24 lakh shares changed hands in 73,00,984 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 97,88,942 crore.
