Closing Bell: Sensex ends 379 points lower, Nifty below 15,150; banks, autos drag

On the Nifty50 index, ONGC, GAIL, BPCL, NTPC and IOC were the top gainers while Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors, M&M, Kotak Bank and Shree Cement led the losses.

Among sectors, the Nifty Auto and Nifty Fin Services fell the most, down around 1.4 percent each while Nifty Bank lost 0.9 percent. The FMCG and pharma indices were also negative for the day, down 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

However, the Nifty PSU Bank index continued to be in focus, up over 5 percent on privatisation buzz. Meanwhile, Nifty Energy rose over 2 percent on rising oil prices and Nifty Metal and Nifty Pharma were also up over a percent each.

Among individual stocks, IndiaMART InterMESH surged over 6 percent after the company launched its qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue in order to raise funds. The floor price for the issue has been set at Rs 9,065.61 per share, at a 5.92 percent premium to Wednesday's closing price.

Shares of GAIL India rallied over 7 percent after the company announced that its share buyback will open on February 25.