The Sensex and the Nifty ended the day lower as foreign funds continued to sell in frontline stocks. Weak German data also saw indices being dragged lower after FII favourite and an index heavyweight HDFC fell more than 3 per cent in trade.

The Sensex ended the day lower by 296 points, while the Nifty dropped 93 points in trade.

Metal stocks came in for some severe drubbing with Hindalco and Jindal Steel among the top losers. DLF saw a drop of more than 5 per cent as investors sold heavily into the stock.

Shares in ONGC remained strong after reports that the company was likely to bid for projects in Tanzania.

IL&FS Transportation surged 7 per cent ahead of its rights issue that is to close today.

PSU banking stocks came in for some heavy selling pressure with Oriental Bank of Commerce seeing a cut of more than 5 per cent.

Meanwhile, German markets saw sharp falls after data dissapointed. Other European markets were also trading lower.

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