Equity benchmarks on Wednesday failed to cash in on positive close from the previous session as selling pressure dominated in the penultimate hours of trade. Weaker rupee as well as tepid global cues weighed in on sentiment on D-Street.

The day began on a flat note and traded rangebound through the day. However, a selloff in the post afternoon session brought about weakness in the equity benchmarks.

The Sensex closed lower by 306.33 points at 34344.91, while the Nifty was down 106.30 points at 10430.40\. The market breadth was negative as 1,117 shares advanced against a decline of 1,515 shares, while 140 shares are unchanged.

Barring big gains in PSU banks, all sectoral indices managed to end the day in deep red, with maximum cuts visible in the energy space. The Nifty PSU bank index was up over 2 percent, largely on the back of a good surge in State Bank of India.

In the broader markets, midcaps had a weak day, but did not fall to the extent which benchmarks fell. The Nifty Midcap index ended over half a percent lower.