Sensex pares early gains; ends down 304 points

Equity benchmarks ended lower for the second straight session on Thursday, dragged down by banking and finance counters and continuous foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 304.18 points or 0.50 per cent lower at 60,353.27 after it failed to hold on to initial gains.

During the day, it fell 607.61 points or 1 per cent to 60,049.84.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 50.80 points or 0.28 per cent to end at 17,992.15.

From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance tanked 7.21 per cent. The other major laggards were Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Titan, Power Grid, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Bharti Airtel.

ITC, Hindustan Unilever, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle and Larsen & Toubro were the major winners.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green.

International oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.04 per cent to $79.43 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2,620.89 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.