Closing Bell: Sensex plunged 656 points to 60,099 while Nifty at 17,943, down 170 points

On the downside, the shares of Infosys and Asian Paints slipped nearly 3 per cent each, while Asian Paints, HUL, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank, TCS, and Nestle India fell up to 2.5 per cent.

Within the pack, the shares of Bajaj Finance had hit a record high of Rs 8,043.50, after they rallied 4 per cent in Wednesday's intra-day trade on the back of a strong 85 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,125 crore in the October-December quarter (Q3FY22), beating Street estimates.

Within the broader market pack, shares of Paytm ended at Rs 997 level, down 4.5 per cent. Earlier today, the shares of company had hit a new low of Rs 990 on the back of heavy volumes.

The shares of Adani Green Energy (AGEL) hit a new high of Rs 1,955.90, up 2.6 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade. With this, the company's market cap has topped the Rs 3-trillion m-cap mark and stands at Rs 3.03 trillion, the BSE data showed.

Sectorally, the Nifty PSU Bank index rose 2.2 per cent today and was the top index gainer. The Nifty Auto and Metal indices also gained about a per cent each. On the downside, the Nifty IT index was the biggest laggard, down over 2 per cent.

European stocks nudged higher today, seemingly shrugging off concerns about rising bond yields while digesting a slew of corporate earnings. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.2 per cent by mid-morning after starting the day in the red.

Futures linked to the US indices, meanwhile, were also marginally higher. Dow Jones Futures were up 0.09 per cent; S&P500 Futures 0.15 per cent; and Nasdaq Composite 0.3 per cent.