The benchmark Sensex fell for the third straight session on Thursday losing 219 points on heavy selling in realty and banking shares by investors, who took cues from weak overseas markets.
The Bombay Stock Exchange barometer, which had lost 317 points in the last two sessions, fell by 219.43 points to close at 16,789.74 points.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 75 points to close at 4,988.60 points.
Brokers said trading sentiment turned bearish after weak Asian markets. Inflation climbing to 1.21 percent for the week ended 10th October was another negative factor, they added.
Downward march was further fueled as Moody's Investors Service downgraded the ratings of 13 Indian commercial banks after its global review of systemic support indicators for individual banking systems, brokers said.
State-run SBI lost 2.50 percent to Rs 2,325.70 and ICICI Bank fell by 4.08 percent to Rs 891.05.
The BSE realty index fell the most losing 4.59 percent to 4,524.28 points after Jaiprakash Associates and DLF registered heavy losses. Jaiprakash Associates plunged by 6.84 percent. Realty major DLF closed lower by 4.93 percent.
Among key Asian indices, Hong Kong's Heng Sang fell by 0.48 percent, while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.64 percent.
China's Shanghai Composite closed down by 0.62 percent, while Kospi dipped by 1.42 percent.
The heaviest and energy giant Reliance Industries fell 2.24 percent to Rs 2,133.55.
Capital goods index fell by 2.69 per cent to 13,644.31. Consumer durable index by 2.65 percent to 3,620.37 and banking index by 2.05 percent to 10,098.65 points.
However, select FMCG and IT counters attracted good buying support. FMCG index rose by 0.95 percent to 2,741.73, IT index by 0.79 percent to 4,437.81 and tech index by 0.61 percent to 2,996.09.
As the profit selling spilled over a wide front, midcap index fell by 2.12 percent to 6,444.27 points and smallcap index by 1.96 per cent to 7,647.77 points.
