Mumbai May 23 (IANS) Persistent outflow of foreign funds along with weak global cues and a depreciation in the rupee plunged the key Indian equity indices on Wednesday.
According to market observers heavy selling pressure was witnessed in metal oil and gas and auto stocks.
At 3.30 p.m. the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) provisionally closed at 10 430.35 points down 106.35 points or 1.01 per cent from the previous close of 10 536.70 points.
Similarly the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE tumbled nearly 1 per cent as trade closed for the day. It had opened at 34 656.63 points closed at 34 344.91 points (3.30 p.m.) -- down 306.33 points or 0.88 per cent -- from its previous session s close of 34 651.24 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 34 668.47 points and a low of 34 302.89 points. The BSE market breadth was bearish with 1 540 declines and 1 115 advances.
The major gainers on the BSE were State Bank of India (SBI) Larsen and Toubro NTPC Tata Motors and Sun Pharma while Tata Steel ONGC IndusInd Bank Dr Reddy s Lab Adani Ports and ITC were the major losers.
On the NSE the top gainers were SBI Cipla and Tech Mahindra. The major losers were Hindustan Petroleum Vedanta and Tata Steel.

--IANS rrb-rv/vm