In fact, profit booking in some large-cap stocks dragged the key indices to the lowest level in two weeks. It trimmed gains in morning trade after a strong start triggered by firm Asian equities and then pared gains in mid-morning trade. Thereafter, the market fell, which is for the third consecutive session, as European stocks turned negative and US index futures edged lower.

Most sectoral indices declined, while front line stocks bore the major brunt of selling with mid and small-cap indices on BSE falling to a smaller extent. The popular Sensex at BSE fell 182.70 points or 1.03 per cent to close at 17,639.26 points this day.

The bellwether index fell 202.94 points at the day’s low of 17,619.02 in late trade and rose 153.61 points at the day’s high of 17,975.57 in early trade. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty at NSE was down 49.35 points or 0.93 per cent to settle at 5273.60 points in the day’s closing.

The market breadth was in favour of declines with — the BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.21 per cent and the BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.58 per cent – as many as 1257 shares advanced as against 1751 stocks that declined on the BSE, while 234 scrips remained static.  Volumes also rose with markets reporting a total turnover of Rs 93,905.99 crore from both the bourses.