Among the top losers in trade were Ambuja Cements after Holcim announced a stake hike in the company. The stock was down 14 per cent in trade.

Other prominent losers in trade were Cairn, Gail, Tata Power and Hindalco Industries. ITC was down 1 per cent ahead of its results to be declared later today. Technology stocks continued to rally in trade with Infosys and TCS among the gainers.

PSU banking stocks along with private sector banking names saw some selling pressure with Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Syndicate Bank and Union Bank of India being among the losers.

Real estate stocks also had a bad day with prominent losers being HDIL, Unitech and DB Realty. Wockhardt continued to slide for the third day in a row following FDA worries and the stock was down 6 per cent at Rs 617 in trade.

Gitanjali Gems continued to trade at the lower end of the circuit filter with the stock down another 5 per cent in trade today. HeroMotor Corp which announced its results on Wednesday saw a recovery in its share price.

Meanwhile, most of the Asian markets were trading in the red after rallying for the last few days. The Hong Kong's Hang Sang, the Chinese Shanghai Composite and the Singapore's Strait Times were all trading lower.

GoodReturns.in