The Indian equities ended lower on Wednesday, mirroring weakness in the Asian market, as investor remained wary amid continued uncertainty over the formation of government in Karnataka. Adding to it, weakness in the index heavyweights such as, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, SBI, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Ports and HDFC Group, also weighed on market sentiment. Among the individual stocks, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) continued losing streak for the second session on Wednesday and fell over 15 per cent after bankruptcy court admits Ericsson's plea against the company.
The 30-share benchmark index closed trade at 35387.88, down by 156.06 points or by 0.44 per cent, and the NSE Nifty settled at 10741.1, down by 60.75 points or by 0.56 points per cent.
In the day’s trade so far, the BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 35543.89 and intraday low of 35241.63, while the NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 10790.45 and intraday low of 10699.7.
The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 297.90,-3.28%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 956.45,-2.34%), State Bank of India (Rs. 243.15,-2.19%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 3576.40,-2.10%), Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. (Rs. 403.65,-1.25%), among others.
On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (Rs. 1574.20,+3.84%), ITC Ltd. (Rs. 285.95,+1.47%), Wipro Ltd. (Rs. 274.30,+1.44%), YES Bank Ltd. (Rs. 349.50,+1.11%), Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 183.00,+1.05%), were among top gainers on BSE.
On the sectoral front, oil&gas and PSU stocks emerged as top losers on BSE, falling as much as 1.58 per cent and 1.18 per cent, respectively.
The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2904, shares advanced were 1087, while 1664 shares declined and 153 were unchanged.