FII outflows pull Sensex below 60k

3-day fall wipes out gains in 10 sessions

- BSE Sensex ended 634.20 pts lower at 59,464.62

- Index lost 1,844.29 points in 3 sessions

- NSE Nifty plunged 181.40 pts to 17,757.00

- Bajaj Finserv top loser in Sensex pack

- Infosys, TCS, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, HUL, Dr Reddy's, HDFC and RIL among laggards

- PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Maruti and ICICI Bank among the gainers

- Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended with gains - Shanghai closed in the red

- European stocks under selling pressure in mid-session deals

Mumbai: BSE benchmark Sensex spiralled lower for the third consecutive session on Thursday to finish below the 60,000-level, weighed by hectic selling in IT, energy and finance stocks amid a sell-off in European equities. A depreciating rupee and continued selling by foreign investors also affected the market sentiment, traders said.

The 30-share BSE index ended 634.20 points or 1.06 per cent lower at 59,464.62. Similarly, the NSE Nifty plunged 181.40 points or 1.01 per cent to 17,757.

Bajaj Finserv was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding 4.57 per cent, followed by Infosys, TCS, Sun Pharma, HUL, HCL Tech, Dr Reddy's, HDFC and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Maruti and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers, spurting up to 4.86 per cent. The market breadth was negative, with 23 of the 30 Sensex counters closing in the red.

"Persistent concern over global inflation and likely Fed rate hike acted as the major headwinds for the domestic market to tumble for the third consecutive day. High volatility due to rising bond yields is pressuring foreign investors to pull out funds from highly valued markets like India. As the recent earnings failed to excite the market, the on-going global volatility drained investor confidence," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.