The domestic benchmark indices today continued their downward trend for the fifth straight session amid broad-based selling pressure and lacklustre second-quarter earnings reports. The BSE Sensex tanked 663 points, or 0.8 per cent, to close at 79,402, while the NSE Nifty dropped 219 points, or 0.9 percent, to settle at 24,181.

The broader market at Bombay Stock Exchange also ended in negative territory. The mid-cap index declined nearly one and a half per cent, and the small-cap index slid 2.4 per cent.

In the Sensex index, 21 out of 30 companies ended in negative territory. In the laggards, IndusInd Bank plunged over 18 and a half per cent, Mahindra and Mahindra plummeted nearly four per cent, and Larsen and Toubro shed over 3.3 per cent. Conversely, in the top gainers, ITC climbed more than two per cent, Axis Bank gained over one and a half per cent, and Hindustan Unilever added almost one per cent. 

In Sectoral Indices at the BSE, 19 out of 20 sectors logged losses, except FMCG, which added half per cent. In the top laggards, oil and gas declined more than three per cent, consumer durables slipped 2.7 per cent, and services shed 2.6 per cent.

The overall market breadth at the BSE was negative, as shares of 841 companies advanced and 3,101 declined, while 79 remained unchanged. At the National Stock Exchange, 30 companies hit their 23-week high while 217 hit their 52-week low.