Markets end lower amid weak global cues

India's benchmark share indices came off their day lows in late trades after the rupee trimmed losses but ended lower on Tuesday amid weak global cues. Further, the downgrade by global brokerage firm JP Morgan also weighed on investor sentiment.

The 30-share Sensex ended down 61 points at 18,226 after hitting a low of 17,971 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 13 points at 5,401 after touching a low of 5,306.   

Global financial firm JP Morgan, in its latest report today, has downgraded India to neutral on rising worries over widening current account deficit.

The report said, "Too much CAD pain". "We know this is reactive rather than proactive. If the Rupee continues to slide then India will continue to underperform," said Adrian Mowat of JP Morgan in his Global Equity Research report.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervened in the foreign exchange market to stem the rupee slide, which touched fresh all time low of Rs 64.13 to the US dollar. The rupee staged a recovery and was trading at 63.56/$ at 3:40pm.

Asian markets ended lower on Tuesday amid uncertaint about when the US Federal Reserve will start pruning its stimulus measures. Among the major indices in the region, the Nikkei and Hang Seng ended down 2.6% and 2.2%, respectively. The Straits Times and Shanghai Composite ended down 0.6-1.4% each. Jakarta Composite was the worst performer in the region down 3.3%.

European shares were trading lower amid weak corporate earnings and ahead of the release of minutes of the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday.

BSE Consumer Durables Index was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 3.5% followed by Auto, Healthcare, IT and Capital Goods among others. However, Metal, Realty and Bankex ended up 0.8-4.8% each.

Consumer Durables and Auto shares ended lower as rising inflation and high cost of consumer loans is leading to slowdown in demand. Tata Motors, Mah&Mah, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto ended down 0.5-4.7% each.

TCS witnessed profit taking after recent gains to end 2.4% lower. HDFC, Sun Pharma, ONGC, L&T and BHEL were among the other Sensex losers.

Bank shares firmed up in late trades after the rupee trimmed losses against the US dollar. ICICI Bank and SBI ended up over 1.5% each.

Other Sensex gainers include, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, Reliance Ind and ITC.

Among other shares, Sesa Goa zoomed 16% to Rs 151 and Sterlite Ind ended up 10% at Rs 83. Finance ministry sources say the stake sale in Hindustan Zinc & BALCO will be taken place via open auction, CNBC-TV18 reports suggests.

Siemens ended higher by 2% at Rs 442 after the company said it has won two contracts aggregating Rs 144 crore from the Rural Electrification Board, Bangladesh to construct 38 new 33/11kV substations.

The broader market ended mixed with BSE Mid-cap index down 0.4% and the Small-cap index ending up 0.2%.

Market breadth was marginally positive with 1,173 gainers and 1,101 losers on the BSE.