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CLOSING BELL Stock market highlights: The S&P BSE Sensex erased early morning gains and closed 303 points, or 0.56 per cent, lower at 53,749 on Wednesday, putting an end to an extremely volatile session. The index swung 695 points during the day.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 shut shop at 16,026, falling 99 points or 0.62 per cent. The benchmarks were dragged by selling pressure in IT, Pharma, PSU Banks, Metals, and Consumption-related stocks. For instance, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, Divis Labs, UPL, Tech M, Wipro, TCS, Apollo Hospitals, JSW Steel, Infosys, Tata Motors, and M&M fell between 2 per cent and 8 per cent.
On the upside, NTPC, HDFC Life, SBI Life, Kotak Bank, Airtel, HDFC, Britannia Industries, and ONGC lent some support as their shares rose in the range of 1 to 4 per cent.
The broader markets, meanwhile, bled more with the BSE SmallCap index sliding nearly 3 per cent, and the BSE MidCap index falling close to 2 per cent.
Sectorally, the Nifty IT index tumbled 3 per cent with individual stocks cracking up to 7 per cent after global brokerage Nomura downgraded the sector due to expected slowdown ahead. Besides, the Nifty Realty index fell 2.7 per cent, the Nifty Metal 1.7 per cent; and the Nifty Auto 0.9 per cent.
Global cues
European stocks moved higher on Wednesday with the pan-European Stoxx 600 adding 0.6 per cent in early trade. On Wall Street, futures linked to main indices were flat with a negative bias.
Earlier in Asia, Nikkei slipped 0.26 per cent; Kospi added 0.4 per cent; ASX200 gained 0.37 per cent; and Hang Seng moved 0.29 per cent higher.
 "Sensex falls for 3rd day, dips 303 pts; Asian Paints sinks 8%; IT index 3%")
