Closing Bell: Indian markets extend losses as all sectors end in red, Paytm tanks on IPO debut

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed below the important psychological levels of 60000 and 18000 respectively.

Domestic equity benchmarks declined for the third day in a row on Thursday lowered by losses in heavyweights like Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC, HCL Technologies, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finance. During today's trading session, the Sensex fell as much as 632 points and the Nifty index briefly dropped below its important psychological level of 17,700. The markets, however, staged a recovery from some of their losses in the afternoon trading session, on the back of buying interest banking shares.

At the closing bell on Thursday, the Sensex was down 433.05 points or 0.72% at 59,575.28, and the Nifty was down 133.90 points or 0.75% at 17,764.80. On the market depth, around 997 shares advanced, 2252 shares declined, and 133 shares were unchanged.

On a day when there was a bloodbath on Dalal Street, SBI, Power Grid Corp, HDFC Bank, IOC and Divis Labs were among major Nifty gainers, whereas losers were Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, M&M, HCL Technologies and L&T.

It wasn't a pleasant picture playing out in the sectors as all the sectors ended in the red, with metal and auto indices losing over 2% each. The same story was seen in the broader markets where the BSE midcap and smallcap indices fell 1.5% each.

Among the trending stock of the day was debutant Paytm. The shares tanked as much as 27% in a weak stock market debut on Thursday. This comes after Paytm became the country's biggest-ever initial public offering. The stock opened for trading at Rs 1,950 on the NSE, marking a decline of 9.3% or Rs 200 from its issue price of Rs 2,150. Paytm shares extended losses after opening as the stock fell as much as 27%, from the issue price, to hit an intraday low of Rs 1,564.