Sensex, Nifty, Rupee pare losses; BPCL surges nearly 5%

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty pared some losses due to buying interest in beaten down stocks at lower levels. Even the Indian rupee recovered to 54.27 from all-time low of 54.44 a dollar, down 48 paise as compared to previous close of 53.78 a dollar.

The BSE benchmark dropped 263.94 points or 1.62% to 16,064.31 after showing recovery of 90 points from day's low of 15,974.60. Meanwhile, the NSE benchmark was down 77.20 points or 1.56% to 4,865.60.

European markets too saw some pullback - Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE fell close to 1% while France's CAC was down just 0.15%. April jobless claims went down 13,700 as against forecast of more than 4,500 that helped markets recover.

Housing finance company HDFC, country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank and state-owned capital goods major BHEL were down 3-3.5%.

Tata Motors, India's largest commercial vehicle maker retained its top position in the selling list, with falling 7% after disappointing global sales data for April.

Shares of Infosys, ITC, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, NTPC and Tata Power dropped around 1.5%.

JSW Steel crashed nearly 5% as CNBC-TV18 reported quoting sources that CBI raided the offices of the company and South West Mining Company in Bellary district.

However, Sterlite Industries, Cairn India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid and Bank of Baroda gained 1-2%.

State-owned oil marketing company BPCL shot up nearly 5% after BPRL announced extension of exploration success with new discovery area in offshore Mozambique.