Mumbai, Sep 30 (IANS): Indian equity indices closed in the deep red on Monday, following profit booking at a higher level.

At closing, Sensex fell 1,272 points, or 1.49 per cent, to 84,299 and Nifty fell 368 points, or 1.41 per cent, to 25,810.

The decline was led by banking stocks. Nifty Bank closed at 52,978, down 856 points or 1.59 per cent.

Due to the sharp fall, the market cap of all the listed companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell by about Rs 4 lakh crore to Rs 474 lakh crore.

In the Sensex pack, JSW Steel, NTPC, Tata Steel, Titan, and Asian Paints were the top gainers. Reliance, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Nestle, Tech Mahindra, M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, SBI, Infosys, and Sun Pharma were the top losers.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed 227 points or 0.38 per cent lower at 60,153 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed 62 points or 0.32 per cent lower at 19,179.

Among the sectoral indices, auto, IT, PSU Bank, fin service, pharma, FMCG, realty, energy, pvt bank and infra were major laggards. Only metal and media indices closed in the green.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said: "The Nifty slipped sharply following a brief pause in the previous trading session, breaking below its recent consolidation. This decline was accompanied by a significant negative divergence in the RSI (14), indicating potential further weakness."

"Sentiment may remain weak in the near term, with support placed at 25,750. A break below 25,750 could lead to further correction. On the higher side, resistance is seen at 26,000," De added.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers as they sold equities worth Rs 1,209 crore on September 27, while domestic institutional investors extended their buying as they bought equities worth Rs 6,886 crore on the same day.