Markets slump on global cues

The markets continued with its topsy-turvy ride, up one day and down another for the fifth session in a row. Today, again the global cues dented market sentiment as they opened gap-down. Relentless selling in metal and realty stocks dashed any hopes of recovery in the second half of the day, even as food inflation eased.

The European markets too started their day on a negative note, and that was enough reason for us to end on a fairly negative note. The Sensex touched a low of 17,455, and finally ended with a loss of 198 points at 17,503.

The Nifty dropped 63 points to end at 5,249.

Asian markets fell as Chinese manufacturng growth slowed. Shanghai Composite shed 1% to 2,373. Nikkei slumped 2% to 9,192.

BSE mid and small-cap indices outperformed the broader markets. Mid-cap index slipped 0.4% to 7,117. Small-cap index managed to rebound and ended flat at 9,079.

All the sectoral indices, barring consumer durables, ended in the red. The metal index slumped 1.7% to 14,452. Realty, auto and IT dropped over 1% each.

Stelite shed 3% at Rs 164. Tata Steel dropped 2.2% to Rs 475. Jindal Steel and Hindalco were down over 1% each.

IT stocks were in red. TCS and Wipro slipped 2.5% each to Rs 731 and Rs 375, respectively. Infosys dipped almost 1% at rs 2,767.

Reliance Communications slipped 3% to Rs 192. Banking stocks - ICICI Bank and SBI declined 2% each to Rs 841 and Rs 2,262 respectively.

Auto stocks - Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra and Hero Honda - ended down 1-2% each.

Realty shares also declined with DLF slipping 5% to Rs 284. ONGC, BHEL, Reliance and ACC were the other big losers.

However, Hindustan Unilever gained 2% at Rs 272.

Reliance Infrastructure bucked the trend and added 0.8% to Rs 1,210. Bharti Airtel and NTPC were up marginally.

BSE market breadth was marginally negative. Out of 2979 stocks traded, 1,449 declined while 1,399 advanced.

VALUE TOPPERS...

HPCL topped the vlaue chart with a turnover of Rs 243.49 cr, followed by IFCI (Rs 95.29 cr), BPCL (Rs 94.03 cr), Reliance Infrastructure (Rs 93.54 cr) and Aban Offshore (Rs 88.48 cr).