Mumbai, (PTI) Stocks frittered away a good beginning today as the Sensex stumbled and lost about 145 points to end at 28,840 after investors moved in to take profit towards the close amid a lower opening in Europe.

Both the Sensex and the Nifty even touched nearly 2-year highs (March 2015) in their early sessions.

Asia saw a mixed closing and Europe a lower opening amid growing optimism of Fed rate hike bets this month, which may suck out capital from emerging markets, traders said. The US markets yesterday closed at a new high.

The BSE index ended down 144.70 points, or 0.50 per cent, at 28,839.79 after moving between 29,145.62 and 28,784.31 intra-day.

The BSE barometer had gained by 241.17 points in the previous session on the back of strong GDP data for the December quarter and positive global cues.

The NSE Nifty closed lower by 46.05 points, or 0.51 per cent, at 8,899.75 after hitting 8,992.50 -- the highest since March 3, 2015. It also touched a low of 8,879.80.

As many as 22 stocks in the Sensex group fell and only 8 rose.

Market started on a strong footing, picking up cues from global markets on growing optimism about corporate tax cuts and other policy proposals as referred to by US President Donald Trump during his speech before the Congress.

Barring auto, all sectoral indices ended lower with realty, power, PSU, healthcare, oil and gas, FMCG and bank down by up to 4.34 per cent.

Wockhardt fell sharply by 4.95 per cent after the company said the US health regulator has issued a warning letter to its step-down subsidiary Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Adani Ports plunged 3.07 per cent followed by Sun Pharma (2.63 per cent), NTPC (2.50 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.71 per cent) and Dr Reddy's (1.98 per cent).

Auto stocks buzzed for the second straight day after release of monthly sale numbers as the BSE auto index gained 0.28 per cent. Tata Motors shot up 2.66 per cent, the best show among Sensex scrips, after the company yesterday reported a jump in total sales in February.

The mid-cap index fell 1.41 per cent and small-cap 1.30 per cent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 198.27 crore yesterday, showed provisional data.

Regional markets were mostly mixed, with China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.52 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.20 per cent. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.88 per cent.

Europe too was in the grip of weakness in its early session. .