Nifty plunges; ICICI, L&T, Tata Steel, Hindalco down 3%

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell more than 100 points, weighed down by ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries. SBI and L&T too were under pressure. European markets were also down nearly 0.5% as pressure and expectations mounted that the European Central Bank would announce action at Thursday’s decisive meeting. Even the services purchasing managers' index stood at 47.2 in August, which was lower than expectations of 47.5.
 
The BSE benchmark plummeted 146 points to 17,295 and the NSE benchmark slipped 51 points to 5,223.

India's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were down 2% and 3.4%, respectively. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped 1.5%.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro extended losses to 3% and state-run power equipment maker BHEL crashed more than 4.5%. Power producers NTPC and Tata Power declined 1.5% each.

Metal sector topped the selling list with more than 2.6% losses. Sterlite Industries, Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel tumbled 3-4%.

Infosys, India's No. 2 software services exporter was down 0.5% while its rival TCS rebounded with gains of 0.8%.

FMCG majors ITC and HUL stayed in the bull grip with gains of 0.7% and 1.6%, respectively. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel gained nearly 3%.

Decliners outnumbered advancers by 813 to 586 on the National Stock Exchange.

(With inputs from Reuters)