Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty traded lower on Thursday, weighed down by growing concerns that tighter monetary conditions in India and globally could persist for longer.

Surging crude oil prices and continued foreign fund outflows further dampened investor sentiment.

At 10:30 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 72221.26 down by -417.44 points or by -0.57 % and then NSE Nifty was at 22460.8 down by -142.25 points or by -0.63 %.

Sensex touched intraday high of 72693.97 and intraday low of 72174.14 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 22599.05 and intraday low of 22445.7

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were HCL Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 1205.50,+1.83%), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (Rs. 2120.95,+1.77%), Infosys Ltd. (Rs. 1007.60,+1.56%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1510.00,+1.40%), Titan Company Ltd. (Rs. 4426.50,+1.06%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. (Rs. 1692.75,-3.17%), ITC Ltd. (Rs. 257.80,-2.83%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 247.25,-2.43%), InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. (Rs. 4906.20,-1.49%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1190.35,-1.35%), among others.

IT index was at 27122.07 up by 390.83 points or by 1.46%. Dynacons Systems & Solutions Ltd. (Rs. 1091.80,+5.71%), Empower India Ltd. (Rs. 1.83,+3.98%), Netweb Technologies India Ltd. (Rs. 4843.00,+3.36%), Latent View Analytics Ltd. (Rs. 237.20,+3.11%), Zensar Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 452.15,+2.87%),.

Metal index was at 38163.48 down by -759.09 points or by -1.95%. Adani Enterprises Ltd. (Rs. 2621.05,-4.48%), Jindal Steel Ltd. (Rs. 1026.50,-3.12%), National Aluminium Company Ltd. (Rs. 314.50,-2.33%), Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Ltd. (Rs. 171.00,-2.01%), Jindal Stainless Ltd. (Rs. 719.05,-1.82%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 4091 , shares advanced were 1293 while 2572 shares declined and 227 were unchanged.