Sensex falls by 346 points, auto and IT stocks tumble

Equity benchmark indices fell sharply during the last hour of the trading session on Wednesday amid mixed Asian cues and continued surge in coronavirus cases which cast doubt over a quick global economic recovery.

The BSE S-P Sensex closed 346 points or 0.94 per cent lower at 36,329 while the Nifty 50 edged down by 94 points or 0.87 per cent at 10,706.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty auto and realty down by 1.9 per cent each, IT by 1.7 per cent and financial service by 0.6 per cent.

But Nifty PSU bank climbed up by 2.3 per cent and metal by 1.5 per cent.

Among stocks, Bajaj Finance fell by 4.6 per cent to Rs 3,197 per share while Bajaj Finserv slipped by 2.8 per cent.

Tata Motors was down by 3.1 per cent, Maruti Suzuki by 2.8 per cent and Eicher Motors by 2.6 per cent.

IT majors HCL Technologies and Infosys skidded by 2.9 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.