Sensex sheds 338 points as metals weigh heavy

Equity benchmark indices traded in a narrow range but fell sharply during last hour of trading on Thursday as traders booked profit in select counters.

Investors attributed depressed market sentiment to concerns about rising inflation worldwide and fears of tightening monetary policies by several governments.

At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 338 points or 0.68 per cent at 49,565 while the Nifty 50 cracked by 124 points or 0.83 per cent to 14,906.

Except for Nifty realty and PSU bank, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty metal dipping by 3.2 per cent after China said it will strengthen its management of commodity supply and demand to curb any unreasonable increase in prices.

Among stocks, Tata Steel slipped by 5.1 per cent to Rs 1,104.90 per share while Hindalco lost 4.2 per cent to Rs 386.20.

Coal India fell by 3.4 per cent, ONGC by 2.8 per cent, IndianOil Corporation by 2.2 per cent, Britannia by 2.9 per cent and Tata Motors by 2 per cent.

However, pharma major Cipla was up by 2.4, Mahindra & Mahindra by 2.3 per cent and Bharat Petroleum Corporation by 2 per cent. IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys ande HDFC Life too traded with a positive bias.

Meanwhile, Asian markets traded lower as US stocks fell overnight after the release of Fed minutes of April policy review.

Japan's Nikkei index was up by 0.19 per cent even as stocks saw biggest weekly foreign fund outflows in 14 months.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.5 per cent as as commodity sector dragged on price curb fears. South Korea's Kospi also fell 0.34 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )