The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share index, Sensex, opened lower on weak Asian cues and dropped further to 18,043.32, a fall of over 159 points. European equities were down as well in the afternoon trade. However, it recovered much of the lost ground and closed at 18,153.99 -- down 48.42 points or 0.27 per cent. In last three days, Sensex had risen 453.72 points or 2.56 per cent.
The 50-issue Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also eased by 10 points or 0.18 per cent to 5,521.95. "The market took a break after a rally yesterday. Metal and Oil & Gas stocks witnessed profit booking. However, power stocks surged after the government assurance towards supply of adequate coal to power generation units," said Vikas Jain, Derivative Strategist at Motilal Oswal Securities.
RIL dropped for the second day on reports that gas output from KG-D6 block will fall further in the next fiscal. It was down 2.86 per cent, pulling down the Sensex. Tata Motors dipped 3.67 per cent on profit-booking after gaining for the last three days after announcing good third quarter earnings.
ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Coal India, Tata Steel, Hindalco, TCS, Sterlite, GAIL and Sun Pharma closed in the red. However, rise in SBI, Infosys, Jindal Steel, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, BHEL and ITC cushioned the fall.