Top laggards among the Sensex pack included Yes Bank, SBI, HDFC, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, ITC, RIL, M&M, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank, losing up to 3.61 per cent. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Vedanta, NTPC, ONGC, Asian Paints, Infosys and HUL were the top gainers, spurting up to 5.31 per cent.
Besides continued concerns over an impending global recession, domestic market witnessed high volatility on the back of weekly and monthly expiration of the August futures and options (F&O) contracts, experts told news agency PTI.
Experts also believe that the markets remained cautious as fears of an impending global recession and worsening US-China trade relations hurdled foreign investor sentiment. Domestic investors also remained cautious ahead of GDP data for the April-June quarter (Q1FY20) due on Friday.
As per various reports and analysis, it is believed that the Indian economy is set for weakest quarter of growth in five years. A poll by news agency Reuters stated country's the economy was expected to have grown at a year-on-year pace of 5.7 per cent in the June quarter, a touch slower than 5.8 per cent in the preceding three months.
Sectorally, Nifty PSU Bank index ended 2.5 per cent lower, followed by Nifty Financial Services index (down 1.7 per cent), and Nifty Bank index (down 1.6 per cent). Nifty Pharma was the top gainer with its index closing 2.24 per cent higher, followed by Nifty Metal which was up 1.4 per cent.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hang Seng, Kospi and Nikkei settled on a negative note, while Shanghai Composite Index ended in the green. Equities in Europe were trading significantly higher in their respective early sessions.
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee appreciated marginally to 71.73 against the US dollar intra-day. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.03 per cent to USD 59.91 per barrel.