Mumbai, Jan 3 (IANS): Domestic equities continued to witness profit booking on the back of weak global cues and a fall in India’s PMI manufacturing to an 18-month low at 54.9 for December, Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said on Wednesday.

Nifty declined for the second consecutive day and closed with a loss of 140 points at 21,517.35, while Sensex slipped 536 Points to 71,356.6

Sector-wise, it was a mixed bag with buying in Realty, PSU Bank, and Pharma stocks.

Impressive Q3FY24 update from PNB and Bank of Maharashtra lifted the PSU Bank Index by 2 per cent.

Railway stocks rallied after the government announced scaling up production of Amrit Bharat trains, Khemka said. IRCON was up 7.4 per cent at Rs 187.10 on the BSE.

Globally, investors were cautious after US manufacturing data saw a contraction. Further, the release of FOMC meeting minutes and US job data scheduled later on Wednesday kept the investors on the sidelines.

"Overall, we expect the market to consolidate and take a pause before the quarterly results start, leading to more stock-specific action," he said.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said that Nifty dipped below the support level of 21,650, resulting in a decline towards 21,500.

"The prevailing sentiment appears weak, highlighted by the index closing below the crucial support at 21,650. If it continues to drop below 21,500 in the coming days, it could potentially exacerbate the negative sentiment, especially with expectations of substantial unwinding by put writers below 21,500." De said.