Mumbai, May 20
The Indian stock markets witnessed a sharp fall on Tuesday amid weak global cues as FII selling was among the key factors that weighed on investors' sentiment.
The Sensex dropped 872.98 points, or 1.06 per cent, to close at 81,186.44. During the day, the index moved between an intra-day high of 82,250.42 and low of 81,153.70.
Similarly, the Nifty slipped 261.55 points, or 1.05 per cent, to settle at 24,683.90.
"The Nifty slipped after two days of consolidation, dragged down by broad-based selling and weakening market breadth,” Rupak De of LKP Securities said.
“Despite this decline, the short-term trend remains strong, although there is a possibility of a deeper pullback toward the 21-day EMA on the daily timeframe,” he added.
Most of the Sensex stocks ended lower. Only Tata Steel, Infosys, and ITC managed to post gains.
Tata Steel rose 0.73 per cent, Infosys added 0.08 per cent, and ITC was marginally up by 0.07 per cent.
On the other hand, top losers included Eternal (formerly Zomato), which fell 4.10 per cent, followed by Maruti Suzuki, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, and Nestle India.
Broader markets also saw selling pressure. The Nifty Midcap100 index dropped 1.62 per cent, and the Nifty Smallcap100 index slipped 0.94 per cent.