Mumbai, Sep 30 (PTI) Market benchmarks spiralled lower for the third session on the trot on Thursday as investors pared their exposure to riskier assets amid a bearish trend overseas due to macroeconomic concerns.

A continuously depreciating rupee, which tumbled for the fifth straight day against the US dollar, also weighed on sentiment.

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The 30-share BSE Sensex shed 286.91 points or 0.48 per cent to end at 59,126.36. The index has now lost 951.52 points in three days.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty fell 93.15 points or 0.53 per cent to close at 17,618.15. It has declined by 236.95 points over three sessions.

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PowerGrid was the top loser in the Sensex pack on Thursday, slipping 2.67 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, SBI, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank and M&M.

In contrast, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, Sun Pharma, HUL, Titan, HDFC twins and Dr Reddy's finished with gains of up to 2.19 per cent.

According to traders, expiry of monthly futures and options (F&O) contracts also induced volatility during the session.

"Indian markets on Thursday closed in negative as the traders have squared off their positions on account of F&O expiry. Asian markets traded mixed this morning after China released mixed economic data and investors continued to monitor the situation at China Evergrande Group," said Arijit Malakar, Head Research (Retail) at Ashika Stock Broking.

Globally, the factors like inflationary pressure in the US, rising bond yields, looming energy crisis, supply chain bottlenecks, and regulatory risks in China weigh on investors' sentiment. Further, the US government's inability to pass key economic bills could also be a cause of concern for the global markets in the near term, he added.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "Indian market opened on a flat note and slipped in the later half tracking weak global cues and fall in heavyweights. Worries over the US debt ceiling crisis and uptick in bond yield triggered further consolidation. The domestic market also got vigilant ahead the release of August's core sector output data."

Sectorally, BSE realty, consumer durables, utilities, power and healthcare indices rose as much as 1.54 per cent, while bankex, metal, telecom and teck ticked lower.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices rose up to 0.56 per cent.

Global markets were mixed as investors monitored spiking US bond yields as well as the debt crisis at China Evergrande Group, which missed another offshore bond payment.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Seoul ended with gains, while Hong Kong and Tokyo were in the red.

Exchanges in Europe were largely trading with gains in the afternoon session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.24 per cent to USD 78.28 per barrel.

The rupee declined by 9 paise to end at 74.23 against the US currency on Thursday, marking its fifth straight session of fall, amid risk averse sentiments and foreign fund outflows.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,896.02 crore, as per exchange data.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)