Mumbai, Oct 21 (PTI) Equity benchmarks buckled under selling pressure for the third session on the trot on Thursday as lacklustre corporate results, negative global cues and concerns over stretched valuations triggered an unwinding of risky bets. The 30-share BSE Sensex slumped 336.46 points or 0.55 per cent to finish at 60,923.50, after slipping below the 60,500-level intra-day. Similarly, the NSE Nifty declined 88.50 points or 0.48 per cent to 18,178.10. Asian Paints was the top loser in the Sensex pack, tanking 5.21 per cent, after the company reported a 29 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 605.17 crore for the September quarter on account of higher expenses, especially input costs. Reliance Industries, Infosys, Dr Reddy’s, Tata Steel, TCS and Bharti Airtel were among the other laggards, shedding up to 2.85 per cent. On the other hand, Kotak Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, NTPC, SBI and Axis Bank were among the gainers, spurting as much as 6.51 per cent. The market breadth was negative, with 21 of the 30 Sensex constituents closing in the red. According to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, domestic headwinds like high valuations have become unsustainable and rising commodity inflation will impact the margins of firms. "Sustained selling by institutions -- both DIIs and FIIs -- indicates that smart money regards the market as overheated and overvalued," he noted. Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi, said, "Indian markets opened in green but couldn"t hold on to early gains and drifted lower mirroring Asian market peers which traded mostly in red as investors monitored and tracked China property woes." Sectorally, BSE IT, teck, metal, telecom, energy, realty and basic materials fell up to 2.30 per cent, while bankex, finance, auto and industrials mustered gains. Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices extended their selloff, slipping up to 0.69 per cent. Global equities stayed on the backfoot after their recent rally, with participants monitoring the Evergrande crisis in China as well as energy price movements. In Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended in the red, while Shanghai was positive. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a negative note in the afternoon session. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.12 per cent to USD 84.86 per barrel. The rupee settled just 1 paisa higher at 74.87 against the US dollar on Thursday. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,843.09 crore, as per exchange data. PTI ANS ABM ABM