Indian Stock Markets closed lower on Wednesday after registering a decent gain on Tuesday. The benchmark indices ended lower after an extremely volatile session ahead of election results on May 16. US Markets closed mixed on Tuesday. Nasdaq closed at 1715 while Dow Jones was up by 50 points at 8469.

After yesterday's sharp rise, markets witnessed profit booking at higher levels. Banking, metal, infrastructure, technology and oil & gas shares were under pressure. The Sensex closed at 12,019 down 138 points and remained in the range of 12256-11934. The Nifty shut at 3635 down 46 points or 1.25% after swinging in the range of
3709-3610. Among the broader indices - BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended flat, gained 5 points and 20 points respectively.

Movers & Shakers

The BSE metal index fell 2 %. In the metal space, Tata Steel and Sterlite were among the biggest losers down over 3 % each.

The IT index dropped 1.6 %. Inofsys, HCL Tech were the biggest losers in the IT sector.

The oil & gas index on the BSE shed 1.4 % despite a rise in international crude oil prices. ONGC was down 3%. Cairn India, Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum and IOC fell 1-1.9%.

The BSE bankex also slid 1.1 %. SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank declined 1.6-2.6%.

The BSE Realty Index closed 22.15 points or 0.96% lower. Unitech, Puravankara Projects, DLF, Parsvnath and Orbit Corporation fell 1-3.2%.

In the Sensex pack Tata Steel was the top loser in the group, down 3.7 % to Rs 265. Sterlite Industries, ONGC and JP Associates were the other main losers in the group all down 3% each.

ACC and HDFC, however, were the biggest gainers in the pack up more than 3 %.