The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex closed 162 points lower Wednesday. Realty, power and banking stocks were the worst performers.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,699.19 points, closed at 18,631.10 points, 162.26 points or 0.86 percent down from its previous day's close at 18,793.36 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 18,740.63 points and a low of 18,614.37 points in intra-day trade. The BSE midcap index was lower by 86.09 points while the smallcap index was 109.21 points down.

Earlier in the day, the Sensex dropped nearly 150 points after credit rating agency Standard and Poor's said there is a significant chance of cutting India's credit rating in the future.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.92 percent down at 5,652.15 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE realty index was down 87.19 points, power index was down 44.68 points and banking index was down 172.28 points.

Major Sensex losers were SBI, down 2.32 percent at Rs.2,227.20; Tata Power, down 2.25 percent at Rs.100.05; Hindalco Inds, down 2.11 percent at Rs.116.15; BHEL, down 2.04 percent at Rs.245.15; and NTPC, down 1.82 percent at Rs.166.85.

The main gainers were ITC, up 0.36 percent at Rs.280.50; Hero MotoCorp, up 0.33 percent at Rs.1,809.95; and RIL, up 0.09 percent at Rs.816.15

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.98 percent down and Hong Kong's Hang Seng also ended trading 0.08 percent down. Shanghai's composite index closed 0.22 percent higher.

In Europe, France's CAC climbed 0.23 percent, while Germany's DAX dipped 0.24 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 index fell 0.43 percent.