MUMBAI: Indian markets ended with heavy losses Wednesday as bears hammered stocks across the board in line with other global markets. The worst hit were rate sensitive sectors like realty, auto and banks ahead of Reserve Bank of India’s policy meet.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 4843.50, down 164 points or 3.27 per cent. The index touched an intraday low of 4834.50 and high of 5008.50.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 16242.30, down 538.16 points or 3.21 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 16230.85 and high of 16708.60 in trade so far.

BSE Midcap Index was down 4.32 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index slipped 5.49 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, rate sensitives led the decline ahead of Reserve Bank of India’s policy meet. BSE Realty Index was down 9.07 per cent, BSE Metal Index fell 6.10 per cent and BSE Auto Index declined 4.96 per cent.

HCL Tech (-9.36%), Unitech (-9.01), Tata Steel (-8.82%), DLF (-8.64%) and Reliance Capital (-7.08%) were the top Nifty losers.

Market breadth was negative on the BSE with 2580 declines and 337 advances.