Markets slide on weak global cues

The markets had a poor session of trade on the back of weak set of cues from the global front. With the Asian markets having a nervous day and European markets showing no respite from selling pressure, the markets back home headed lower with every passing hour to close near the day's lows. The Sensex ended at 18311, lower by 97 points and the Nifty ended at 5505, down 38 points. The midcap index ended at 7831, weaker by 0.7%, and the smallcap index ended at 9900, down 0.6%.

The Asian markets ended in the red, with the Hang Seng and Nikkei losing more than a percent each. The European markets, including the FTSE, CAC and DAX, are down by a similar margin, and the Dow futures have also shaved off about 70 points in pre-market trades, suggesting a bleak opening on Wall Street.

The realty sector, down 2.7%, was the biggest loser on the Sensex as the Chinese factor seemed to have dampened the sentimenmt surrounding realty stocks. Chinese property developers are facing strained cash flows and are forced to cut prices beginning in the fourth quarter stated a state newspaper report, citing several bankers. For quite some time, Beijing had been strictly controlling  financing real estate developers by limiting their lending from banks and fund raising from capital markets, in its efforts to cool speculative purchases and prevent prices from rising too fast. The Shanghai markets, however, rebounded from the day's lows to end in the green and thereby buck the soft trend across Asia. DLF lost 2% at Rs 322 and Reliance Infrastructure shed 2% at Rs 1023.

And a huge sell off in the mining and energy stocks in the European markets had a cascading effect on metal stocks. The metal index closed down 1.9%. Sterlite (Rs 152) and Hindalco (Rs 168) were down nearly 4% to top the loser's list on the BSE, and Hindustan Zinc lost 3%. 

On the other hand, Consumer Durables up 0.4% bucked the weak trend. FMCG up 0.3% led the charts throughout the day before making way for consumer durables at the fag end of trade. Bharti Airtel (Rs 322) up nearly 2% was the top gainer on the Sensex. Reliance Communications (Rs 166) and SBI (Rs 2846) added 1% each to emerge as the other significant gainers.

The market breadth was negative. Of the 3038 shares traded on the BSE, 1740 shares declined and 1183 advanced.