Sensex sheds 240 pts, Nifty 70 points

Asian market mostly tracked the overnight US markets gain and ended in the green. Tokyo index gained in today's session, while Mainland China had a mixed day. Hong Kong closed in the green. Europe was trading higher in the morning session.

Indices continue to drag as Sensex closes below 61,000 and Nifty below 18,150

Indian indices continued their downward spiral on Thursday and closed in the red. The indices started strongly but soon gave up on all the gains and traded lower throughout the session.

Sensex closed at 60,812, a drop of 240 points. Nifty also shed 70 points to close at 18,127.

Almost all sectoral indices closed in red with Metal, Auto, PSU Bank, and Realty dragging the most and shedding 1% each. IT index closed flat.

Among stocks, UPL fell 3.5% followed by Bajaj Finserv, Eicher Motors, IndusInd Bank and M&M, which shed 2% each. Sun Pharma, SBI Life, and Ultratech Cement ended in the green in today's session.

Asian markets mostly gained on Thursday as investors cheered improving consumer sentiment in the United States after inflation expectations eased.

Japan's Nikkei index ended higher on Thursday, for the first time in more than a week, as investors bought back shares that had been beaten down by the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) surprise policy tweak earlier this week. The Nikkei share average ended the day up 0.46%.

Automaker shares rebounded strongly after the yen showed signs of stabilizing, and the real estate sector rallied as long-term bond yields also calmed down after steep climbs.

Chinese blue chip and Hong Kong stocks ended higher on Thursday after China's securities watchdog vowed to deepen market reforms and improve the quality of listed companies. China's blue chip CSI300 index rose 0.1%, though the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 2.7%.

European shares rose for a second straight session on Thursday, propped up by financial and energy stocks. The region-wide STOXX 600 index was up in the morning session.