Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined sharply on Thursday, as surging crude oil prices, continued foreign fund outflows and growing expectations of tighter domestic and global monetary conditions for longer dampened investor sentiment.

At 14:30 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 71560.61 down by -1078.09 points or by -1.48 % and then NSE Nifty was at 22214.5 down by -388.55 points or by -1.72 %.

Sensex touched intraday high of 72693.97 and intraday low of 71406.79 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 22599.05 and intraday low of 22204.5

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Infosys Ltd. (Rs. 998.70,+0.67%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1498.70,+0.64%), HCL Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 1186.95,+0.27%), Trent Ltd. (Rs. 2895.60,+0.26%), Titan Company Ltd. (Rs. 4390.05,+0.23%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were ITC Ltd. (Rs. 255.25,-3.79%), InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. (Rs. 4818.70,-3.24%), Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. (Rs. 1691.90,-3.21%), Bharat Electronics Ltd. (Rs. 367.50,-3.00%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1177.00,-2.46%), among others.

IT index was at 26741.42 up by 10.18 points or by 0.04%. Empower India Ltd. (Rs. 1.83,+3.98%), DC Infotech and Communication Ltd. (Rs. 347.00,+2.03%), Hexaware Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 513.35,+1.61%), Intense Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 82.00,+1.50%), Netweb Technologies India Ltd. (Rs. 4750.50,+1.39%),.

Metal index was at 37688.12 down by -1234.45 points or by -3.17%. Adani Enterprises Ltd. (Rs. 2576.60,-6.10%), Jindal Steel Ltd. (Rs. 1010.05,-4.68%), JSW Steel Ltd. (Rs. 1179.60,-3.87%), Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Ltd. (Rs. 168.00,-3.72%), Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (Rs. 532.70,-3.43%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 4780 , shares advanced were 1047 while 3499 shares declined and 234 were unchanged.