Benchmark indices tumbled over 1% on Thursday marking their fourth consecutive session of decline. The decline came amid global market weakness weighing heavily on investor sentiment.

Sensex crashed almost 1,200 points and Nifty nosedived back to 23,870 level in intraday trade after the US Fed signalled the pace of rate cuts could be slower going ahead.

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At the close, the Sensex dropped 1.2%, shedding 964 points to settle at 79,218, while the Nifty fell 1.02%, losing 247.6 points to end at 23,951.25.

Sensex opened at 79,029.03 against its previous close of 80,182.20 while Nifty 50 opened at 23,877.15 against its previous close of 24,198.85.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices saw modest declines. BSE Midcap index declined 0.30%, while the BSE Smallcap index dropped 0.28%.

The overall market capitalisation of the BSE-listed firms dropped to nearly Rs 450 lakh crore from nearly Rs 453 lakh crore in the previous session.

Among the sectors, most of them suffered significant losses. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, IT and Consumer Durables falled by a percent, while on the other hand, bucking the trend, the Nifty Pharma index jumped almost 2%.

The Indian rupee hit a historic low of 85.3 per dollar, damaging market sentiment.

On Nifty, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, JSW Steel, and Grasim were the top laggards, ending lower by up to 2.33 per cent.

On the other hand, Dr Reddy’s, Cipla, BPCL, Sun Pharma, and Apollo Hospital were among the 14 constituent stocks that ended higher by up to 4.04%.

Among the individual performers, SpiceJet share price jumped nearly 9% after the company reported that it reached an amicable settlement with Genesis, a commercial airline leasing company.

One Mobikwik Systems shares extended its listing gains, and had a bumper debut on both bourses, listing at Rs 442.25, at a 58.5% premium against the offer price of Rs 279.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories shares gained over 4% after brokerage firm Nomura upgraded its rating to ‘buy’ from the previous ‘neutral’ call.

Indusind Bank settled in red, and hit its 52-week low.

Shares of Asian Paints settled 2% lower and hit the 52-week low after two senior management executives announced their resignations. Nestle India shares also settled 1% lower, hitting a fresh 52-week low intraday.

After weak Q1 and Q2 earnings of Indian corporates, all eyes are on the December quarter (Q3) earnings.