From correspondents in Maharashtra, India, 06:32 PM IST

For the second consecutive day Indian equity markets closed in the red on the back of weak global cues and nuclear deal imbroglio.

The markets opened in the red and continued to slide till afternoon. By the last hour of trade, it lost maximum points and ended the day with a hefty loss.

The 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, which opened at 14,569.01 points, touched a low of 14,438.59 before closing at 14,483.8. It went down by 415.27 points or 2.79 percent.

The national stock exchange closed at 4,352.30 and went down by 95.45 points.

The BSE Midcap index, which closed at 5,753.72 points, went down by 75.45 points or 1.29 percent.

The BSE Smallcap index, which closed at 6,905.22 points, went down by 69.15 points or 0.99 percent.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,011 shares advanced, 1,626 declined and 91 maintained status quo.

Top losers included Ranbaxy Laboratories at Rs.493.55 down 8.77 percent, Housing Development Finance Co at Rs.2,420.85 down 5.78 percent, and DLF Ltd at Rs.522.75 down 5.41 percent.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)