Sensex closes 236 points lower; Midcaps, smallcaps fall 2.6%

Bears took charge of the street in the last one-and-a-half hour of trade after trading rangebound since morning. Indian equity benchmarks closed over three-week low on Tuesday, losing 1.4-1.55% on the back of broad-based selling.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed well below the 17,000 mark; lost 236.07 points to 16,882.67 led by 27 stocks. Meanwhile, the 50-share NSE Nifty broke the 5,100 level; dropped 79.85 points, to end at 5,068.50.

Lingering concerns over Greece and Italy too dampened the mood of investors; European markets like France's CAC and Germany's DAX slipped 1.3% each while Britain's FTSE lost 0.6%. The Dow Jones futures too declined 47 points.

Maintaining a 'cautious' call on the market due to macro headwinds, Anirudha Dutta, head of thematic research at CLSA Asia Pacific Markets says global sentiment remains a cause of concern, and is a 'primary overhang' on the market.

Fall in rupee was another cause of concern today - the Indian rupee depreciated to 50.69 to the dollar against 50.30/dollar yesterday.

Dutta says that the rupee volatility remains a worry and sees no respite on that front unless problems in Europe resolve. However, on the slowdown in policy making, Dutta believes that decision making will improve by mid-2012.