Markets may close in the negative

The Sensex continues to trade in the red into the last hour of trading. Previously, the index touched an intra-day low of 20,107. The Sensex is currently trading at 20,185, shedding 118 points and the Nifty is down 33 points at 6,046. In the broader markets, the midcap index has shed 1% and the smallcap lost 0.8% underperforming the benchmark index, down 0.5%

Earlier the day, the Sensex had opened in the green but quickly pared its initial gains on back of selling pressure in banking and auto shares. Fertlizer stocks too took a hit as the government differed the decision on freeing up the urea prices. Almost all the major fertilizer stocks had opened in the red. From there on the markets started moving south.

On the Asian front, the indices had a weak opening but at the close, the markets closed mixed. Shanghai Composite, Jakarta Composite and     Seoul Composite lost 0.2% - 1%, Hang Seng and KLSE Composite closed flat while Nikkei, Straits Times and Taiwan Weighted gained 0.4% - 1%

Among the sectoral indices, Oil & Gas is the only index in the green, gaining 0.1%.Realty down 2% followed by Capital Goods, FMCG, Auto shedding 1% each are top losers on the chart.

Hindalco, RIL, NTPC and Bharti Airtel up 1% eah are the top gainers on the Sensex followed by HDFC Bank, Reliance Infrastructure adding 0.7% each.

Sterlite, Bajaj Auto, Cipla and ONGC down 3% lead the losers list. L&T, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti Suzuki, Jaiprakash Associates and SBI shedding 2% each are the other noteable losers.

Market breadth is very negative. 1895 stocks have declined while 976 have advanced.