Indian markets shed over 0.6 per cent at the end of the session on Wednesday on sustained selling by funds and retail investors due to the political crisis at the Centre.
Investors adopted a cautious approach as the DMK has withdrawn support to the UPA Government.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 123.91 points (0.65 per cent) at 18,884.19 and the 50-share NSE index was down 39.3 points (0.68 per cent) at 5,706.65.
Except FMCG, auto, IT and consumer durables, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. Among them, realty index fell the most by 4.67 per cent followed by power 2.65 per cent and PSU 2.37 per cent.
On the other hand, FMCG index was up 0.67 per cent followed by IT 0.12 per cent, auto 0.07 per cent and consumer durables 0.01 per cent.
In the opening trade, the Sensex fell 107.22 points or 0.56 per cent to 18,900.88 and the Nifty fell 33.15 points or 0.58 per cent to 5,712.80.
European stocks were up as a rally in Chinese shares pared declines in Asian equities ahead of policy meetings in Europe to weigh the bailout options for Cyprus.
Asian shares were down as Cyprus's Parliament rejected the proposal to tax bank account holders as a condition for bailout, pushing the tiny European nation into the brink of financial meltdown.
But the losses were limited as investors were hoping that a last minute deal was still within reach.
Japanese financial markets were shut for a holiday. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 146.34 points or 0.66 per cent to 22,188.20, while Singapore’s Straits Times was down 9.34 points or 0.29 per cent at 3,259.79.