The Sensex and the Nifty fell about 0.3 per cent at the end of the session on Tuesday on heavy selling in consumer durables, auto, IT and TECk stocks.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 61.48 points (0.34 per cent) at 18,246.04 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 13.3 points (0.25 per cent) at 5,401.45.

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal and realty indices gained the most by 4.84 per cent 2.49 per cent, respectively followed by banking 0.75 per cent and PSU 0.52 per cent.

On the other hand, consumer durables and auto indices plunged the most by 3.54 per cent and 2.26 per cent, respectively followed by healthcare 1.59 per cent and IT 1.4 per cent.

Among 30-share Sensex, Sterlite, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Coal India and SBI were the top five gainers, while the top five losers were Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, TCS and M&M.

The 30-share index slipped below 18,000 mark by plunging 325.64 points or 1.78 per cent to 17,981.88 in the opening trade. Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty slipped below 5,400 points level by falling 91.75 points or 1.69 per cent to 5,323.

Fag-end buying in metal, realty, banking and PSU stocks helped the Sensex and Nifty to minimise the losses. But the market sentiment remained bearish due to weak rupee and a weak trend in the global market.

Both European and Asian stocks were down amid speculation the Federal Reserve will scale back its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying programme as soon as next month.

Stoxx 50 fell 36.62 points or 1.3 per cent to 2,786.73, FTSE 100 shed 37.02 points or 0.57 per cent to 6,428.71 and DAX declined 84.74 points or 1.01 per cent to 8,281.55.

Nikkei shed 361.75 points or 2.63 per cent to 13,396.40, Hang Seng plunged 493.41 points or 2.2 per cent to 21,970.30 and S&P/ASX 200 was down 34.35 points or 0.67 per cent at 5,078.18.

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