Closing bell: Sensex crashes 237 points to end at 53,339, Nifty closes at 17,466

From the 30-share Sensex pack, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Maruti, Dr Reddy's, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, PowerGrid and Kotak Bank were among the major laggards.

Equity benchmarks wiped out early gains and settled lower for the third day in a row on Wednesday, with the Sensex falling over 237 points, pulled down by HDFC twins amid persistent foreign fund outflows and mixed global trends.

Sensex crashes 237 points to end at 53,339, Nifty closes at 17,466.

Despite a firm opening, the Sensex failed to hold on the momentum and declined 237.44 points or 0.41 per cent to settle at 58,338.93. During the day, it tanked 285.14 points or 0.48 per cent to 58,291.23.

On similar lines, the NSE Nifty dipped 54.65 points or 0.31 per cent to finish at 17,475.65.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Maruti, Dr Reddy's, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, PowerGrid and Kotak Bank were among the major laggards.

In contrast, ITC, Sun Pharma, Hindustan Unilever Limited, State Bank of India and NTPC were among the prominent gainers.

"Nifty remained volatile with a largely negative bias throughout the session," according to Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.

In the previous trade, the Sensex declined 388.20 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 58,576.37. The Nifty went lower by 144.65 points or 0.82 per cent to finish at 17,530.30.

In Asia, markets settled mostly higher, with Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ending in the green, while Shanghai was lower.

Stocks in the US ended marginally lower on Tuesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.56 per cent to USD 105.23 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained in selling mode, offloading shares worth a net ₹3,128.39 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Stock markets will be closed on Thursday for Mahavir Jayanti and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti, as well as on Friday on account of Good Friday.