Sensex, Nifty end 0.5% lower, banking & financial stocks drag

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty buckled under selling pressure on Thursday as investors pared exposure to banking, IT and finance stocks after three sessions of gains amid the US Fed's hawkish stance on interest rates.

A weak opening in European markets and the depreciating rupee also sapped risk appetite, traders said.

After rallying for the past three days, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 310.88 points or 0.49 per cent to settle at 62,917.63. During the day, it tumbled 357.43 points or 0.56 per cent to 62,871.08.

The NSE Nifty declined 67.80 points or 0.36 per cent to end at 18,688.10.

Wipro was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, slipping nearly 2 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC and Bajaj Finserv.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.97 per cent to USD 73.91 a barrel.