Benchmark stock market indices fell sharply on Wednesday amid high volatility and profit booking, marking the biggest drop in the benchmark indices in five weeks.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 790.34 points lower at 72,304.88, while the NSE Nifty50 fell 247.21 points to settle at 21,951.15. Broader market indices also witnessed a bloodbath during the trading session.

Both the benchmark indices have shed 1.2 per cent this week after gaining nearly 2 per cent in the past two weeks.

Most analysts attributed the sharp decline to profit booking by investors, ahead of key economic data. India’s Q3FY24 GDP numbers are likely to show on Thursday that growth moderated to 6.6 per cent, while the focus will also remain on another set of US economic data to be released on the same day.

Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst at Swastika Investmart Ltd, said, “The movement of the stock market is complex and vulnerable to several influences. Corrections in the market are common. Investors with long-term horizons may see this as a buying opportunity.”

“There can be brief selling pressure as a result of investors taking profits following large gains. The market may have declined as a result of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) selling off large quantities of Indian stocks. The market also became nervous before so many economic indicators such as GDP data, PCE price index data, and manufacturing PMI numbers in the US,” he noted.

“Another reason may be that the US government will partially shut down on March 1st without a spending bill,” Gour added.

It may be noted that all the 13 major sectors logged losses, with Nifty PSU declining 2.3 per cent and Nifty Financials dropping 1 per cent.

Only four Nifty50 stocks ended the session in positive territory, including HUL, Bharti Airtel, Infosys and TCS. On the other hand, the top losers were Power Grid, Bajaj Auto, Apollo Hospitals, Eicher Motors and IndusInd Bank.

Among individual stocks, shares of digital payments firm Paytm hit a lower circuit of 5 per cent after gaining for multiple sessions. Juniper Hotels, which witnessed a tepid market debut, also gained over 10 per cent at closing.