The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday declined sharply as a fag-end sell-off wiped out early gains, with IT and bank stocks playing spoilsport amid monthly derivatives expiry. Hence, the domestic indices snapped a two-session winning run as investors awaited hearing the latest reaction of the world's top central bankers to soaring inflation on Friday.


After remaining in the positive territory for most part of the trade, the BSE Sensex suddenly came under selling pressure during the last half-hour of the session.


The BSE Sensex tanked 310 points (0.53 per cent) to settle at 58,774. During the day, it hit a high of 59,484 and a low of 58,666. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty dropped 82 points (0.47 per cent) to end at 17,522.


On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Axis Bank, Power Grid, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, and HDFC were the major losers. On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki India, State Bank of India, Dr Reddy's, and Titan were the gainers.


The broader markets, however, held upbeat momentum with the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices settling up to 0.2 per cent higher.


Among sectors, all but the Nifty PSU Bank (up 2.74 per cent) and Realty (up 1.47 per cent) indices closed in the negative zone.


In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark climbed 54 points (0.09 per cent) to settle at 59,085, the Nifty went up by 27 points (0.16 per cent) to 17,604.


“Amid heightened volatility, investors pruned their long positions on the F&O expiry day due to the uncertain global economic scenario," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research for retail, Kotak Securities.


In Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai ended higher. Stock markets in Europe were trading in the green during mid-session deals. Wall Street had ended with gains on Wednesday.


Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.17 per cent to $101.3 per barrel.


Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 23.19 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.