Mumbai, Aug 7 - Continued selling of stocks across the board and particularly from consumer durables, auto and realty sectors pushed a key index of the Indian equities markets down over 2 percent Friday.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 15,440.95 points, ended trade at 15,160.24 points, down 353.79 points or 2.28 percent from its last closing figure.

Similarly, the Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shut shop in the red at 4,481.4 points, down 2.27 percent.

Broader market indices, too, came under selling pressure with the BSE midcap index closing 2.27 percent down, while the BSE smallcap index ended 1.92 percent lower.

All 13 sectoral indices on the BSE closed in the negative, with consumer durables, auto, realty and banking stocks coming under heavy selling pressure.

The market breadth was negative with 748 stocks advancing, 1,922 declining and 78 remaining unchanged.

There were only three gainers on the Sensex: NTPC, up 0.71 percent at Rs.212.25; Tata Steel, down 0.31 percent at Rs.456.20; and Wipro, up 0.13 percent at Rs.498.90.

Among the 27 losers on the Sensex Thursday, the prominent ones were Reliance Communications, down 5.