Markets end lower, ICICI Bank slips 2%

Markets ended in the red due to selling pressure in frontline stocks-ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Tata Power, shrugging off firm cues from Europe. The Nifty slipped 23 points, at 5,138 and the Sensex declined 80 points, at 17,050 (provisional).

-------------------Updated 14:40 hrs

Markets were trading marginally higher after European indices rallied as French banks recovered some of the losses posted in the previous session, but concerns of credit downgrades in Europe weighed.

The Nifty opened in the red and touched a low of 5,128 tracking weak global cues. The index changed lanes and touched a high of 5,184 in the afternoon session, following a recovery in Asian indices and rally in European markets. The Nifty was at 5,171, up 11 points and the Sensex was at 17,167, up 37 points.

In Asia, reports of a potential change in policy stance by China provided some succor to frayed investor nerves. Most of the indices recovered from morning lows, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 1.5%, but the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.5%.

In Europe banking shares lead the gains after the heavy battering seen on Wednesday on back of upbeat results. The French CAC 40 index advanced 2.4%, Germany’s DAX 30 index gained 2.7% and the FTSE 100 index was up 2.1%.

Back in India, analysts said that there is still some more pain left for the markets given the global uncertainties. Tarun Sisodia, Executive Director (Institutional Equity) from Anand Rathi said, “Any further downgrade by rating agencies with respect to the European countries could lead to another round of sell-off.”

Among the sectoral indices BSE Oil & Gas and Metal indices were leading the gains, up almost 7% each.

JSW Steel added sheen, up 3.1%; Coal India and Bhushan Steel were up over 1% each from the metal space.

Cairn India, up 1.8%, Oil India and Reliance Industries, up 1.5% each, were pulling the Oil & Gas index.

Market breadth was positive, 1,376 stocks advanced for 1,329 declining stocks on the BSE.