Mumbai, March 23 : The BSE Sensex on Wednesday dropped 304.48 points to settle at 57,684.82 on profit booking by local operators despite positive Asian Market. The Nifty of National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell 69.85 points at 17,245.65. The Sensex rallied 209 pts at 58,198.64 in opening trade. It was surged 427 pts at 58,416.56, days high. Later, it was tumbled down 421 pts at 58,568.59, days low, before closing at 57,684.82, sliding 304.48 points from its previous close. The Sensex registered days high and low at 58,416.56 and 57,568.59 pts respectively. The Nifty recorded days high and low at 17,442.40 and 17,199.60 respectively. The sectoral indices like Bankex, Auto, Finance and Realty dragged the market today. In scrips, Kotak Bank was a major loser down 2.67 pc to Rs 1760.35 followed by HDFC by 2.38 pc to Rs 2345.50, Bharti Airtel by 1.84 pc to Rs 706, Sun Pharma by 1.65 pc to Rs 898.85 and Maruti Suzuki by 1.63 pc to Rs 7637. The gainers were Dr Reddy’s Lab by 2.06 pc to Rs 4115.05, Tata Steel by 2.02 pc to Rs 1328.80, ITC by 0.86 pc to Rs 251.95, Powergrid by 0.65 pc to Rs 210.01 and NTPC by 0.49 pc to Rs 133.50. The Mid Cap rose by 0.39 pc while Small Cap fell by 0.02 pc. In 30 scrips, 12 advanced while 18 declined. Little change was seen in European market as the pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered around the flatline while Germany’s DAX fell 0.27 per cent and France’s CAC40 was down 0.22 per cent. In Asian Market, Japan’s Nikkei gained 3 per cent. Indices in South Korea, Australia, and Hong Kong surged between 0.5 per cent to 1.2 per cent. NV GK