The Sensex ended the day lower by 145 points, while the Nifty fell 40 points in trade. The top loser from the Nifty pack was Tata Motors which slid almost 5 per cent, while Wipro fell after a poor set of quarterly results. Other stocks that dropped in trade were the metal pack with Hindalco, Tata Steel and Sesa Sterlite among the losers.

Heavyweight, Reliance also fell after rallying sharply in the last few days. Select Nifty stocks that gained ground in trade were Hindustan Unilever, Hero Motor Corp, Mahindra and Mahindra and Sun Pharma.

The hardest hit in trade today were the PSU banking stocks after Punjab National Bank and Allahabad Bank both reported their results. Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and IDBI Bank were the hardest hit. Select mid cap stocks also saw selling pressure with Ashok Leyland, Jain Irrigation and Power finance the hardest hit. Biocon closed the day a huge 7 per cent lower after its results failed to impress the markets.

The Bank Nifty also saw losses after most of the banking stocks dropped. However, Kotak Mahindra managed to end the day with gains.

Meanwhile, European markets were trading marginally lower with the German DAX, the French CAC and the UK's FTSE lower.

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