Equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty extended losses to the third consecutive session on Wednesday, dragged mainly by heavyweights HDFC Housing HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries. Sensex plunges more than 372 points, and Nifty drops below 16,000.

The BSE Sensex had a strong first half of the afternoon, comfortably trading over the crucial-54,000 barrier while tracking Asian rivals. Later, the index lost more than 500 points from its peak for the day to settle at 53,514, a decrease of 372 points or 0.69 percent.

IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, and Reliance were major laggards in the Sensex pack, falling as much as 3 percent. Gainers and losers represented equally sized portions of the Sensex breadth. HUL, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, NTPC, and Nestle Industries were among the top gainers.

The euro remained slightly above parity against the dollar on Wednesday as market participants awaited the publication of US inflation data later that night. Asian markets rose on Wednesday, recovering some of their recent losses.

As investors anxiously awaited the crucial US inflation data, which is anticipated to reveal price pressures increased to a 40-year peak and further boost a galloping dollar, the collapse of the Indian rupee advanced marginally, marking the third straight session of record bad finishes. To close provisionally at 79.62 against the US dollar, the rupee lost 3 paise.

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