The sell-off in equity benchmarks continued for second consecutive session on Thursday with the Sensex closing below psychological 24000-mark for first time since May 15, 2014.
Weak Asian cues and fall in crude oil prices dampened sentiment but recovery in Europe helped Indian equities trim losses in later part of the trading session.
Overall it was a volatile session as the Sensex gained more than 250 points in early trade but could not sustain those gains for long. Oil, pharma, FMCG and auto stocks dragged while banks and select technology stocks limited downside.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 99.83 points to 23962.21 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 32.50 points to 7276.80. The broader markets were mixed as the BSE Midcap index lost 0.3 percent and Smallcap gained 0.5 per cent.
Hiren Ved of Alchemy Capital Management says it will take a while for the market to bottom out, but it is trading at an attractive level for long-term investors.
Asian markets extended losses in their afternoon trade with Shanghai sinking 3.2 percent followed by Hang Seng (down 1.8 percent to 3-year low) and Nikkei (down 2.4 percent) after Brent crude slipped below USD 28 a barrel, down half a percent to USD 27.74. However, European markets managed to recoup early losses ahead of first European Central Bank meeting of the year. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE gained 0.5-1 percent (at 16 hours IST).
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