The 30-share Sensex fell 76.20 points — or 0.23 per cent — to 32,161.68. The gauge had lost 337 points in the previous two sessions.
The Nifty cracked and slipped below 10,000 as investors went around picking profit. Caution remained the byword as June-September quarterly results kick off on Thursday , with TCS set to get off the block , and RIL the next on Friday. Data on industrial production for August and consumer inflation for September is also lined up for Thursday.
Healthcare , FMCG , banking , power and auto indices were all in the loss zone, down by up to 1.67 per cent.
The beginning was positive as the Sensex raced past the 32,000-mark shortly after the open as domestic investors pressed on with buying. But the index faltered and ended lower by 90.42 points , or 0.28%, at 31,833.99, with profit-booking posing an overhang.
Thegauge had rallied 332.38 points in the past three sessions. At the close , the 50-share NSE Nifty nosed down by 32.15 points, or 0.32%, at 9,984.80. During the day, it moved between 10,067.25 and 9,955.80.
The correction which started from New York extended to Japan , China and then to the Indian market. The S&P BSE Sensex plunged 3 percent translates into the worst decline since August.
Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.36 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.01 per cent while Shanghai Composite rose 0.11 per cent.