Selling pressure on frontline stocks pulled down a benchmark index for Indian equities almost 84 points during afternoon trade Tuesday.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 17,534.1 points and was at 17,442.84 points an hour before the closing bell, down 83.87 points or 0.48 percent from its previous close at 17,526.71 points.
Banking majors ICICI and SBI, ITC and Tata Steel were among the major contributors to the slump.
Around the same time, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was at 5,218.35 points, against the previous close at 5,249.4 points, a loss of 0.59 percent.
Broader market indices also came under selling pressure, with the BSE midcap index down 0.86 percent and the BSE small cap index ruling 0.71 percent lower.