Markets end near day's low on weak global cues

Markets opened weak this morning following cues from Asian markets. Sebi's move on Reliance, asking the government to take action against India's most valuable company, also dampened the sentiment. The stock infact slipped below the Rs 1,000-mark in early trades. The Sensex staged a brief recovery around noon but slipped back into red and finally ended with a loss of 119 points at 16,601.

The Sensex touched a high of 16,751 and slipped 173 points from there to hit a low of 16,578.

The Nifty ended down 35 points at 4,953.

Market heavy-weight, Reliance, dragged the benchmark in the morning following reports of Sebi allegations that the company has been routing funds to dummy companies for buying large quantities of its own share in 2000. However, the stock recovered somewhat and ended with a marginal gain at Rs 1,017.

Global markets however, showed mixed trends. US markets edged up good quarterly numbers from IT companies. Asian markets however, ended in the red.

Most of the sectoral indices were in the red, barring the consumer duarbles index which added 1.3% to 3,577. The capital goods, metal, auto and realty indices showed weakness and declined over 1% each.

The BSE market breadth was negative. Out of 2,894 stocks traded, 1,544 declined while 1,270 advanced.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Hindalco plunged 4% to Rs 137. Sterlite was down 2% at Rs 802. Tata Steel dropped 1.3% to Rs 556.

Auto stocks also declined. Mahinda & Mahindra shed 3.2% at Rs 1,021. Maruti Suzuki dipped 1.5% to Rs 1,524. Tata Motors slipped 1%.

Other losers in the market today include Jaiprakash Associates, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, DLF, Reliance Communications and BHEL.

...AND THE MOVERS

TCS managed to hold on to gains and ended with 1% gain at Rs 733. Reliance rebounded to end flat at Rs 1,017.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS..

Reliance topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 157.94 crore, followed by Tata Steel (Rs 101.52 crore), Havells India (Rs 91.28 crore), SBI (Rs 85.96 crore) and MRF (Rs 84.61 crore).

The volume chart was led by Austral Coke with trades of over 18.15 million shares, followed by Dish TV (11 million), Unitech (10.54 million) and Suzlon (67.32 million).