Sensex ends down 127pts

The Sensex has ended provisional) at 18,004 - down 127 points. Nifty ended (provisional) at 5,414 - down 35 points.
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(Updated at 1435 hrs)

The markets continue to languish at lower levels on the back of relentless selling in auto and realty stocks. The Sensex touched a low of 18,017, and is now down 101 points at 18,030.

The BSE Auto index has tumbled 3% to 8,168, and the Realty index has plunged 2% to 3419.

Maruti continues to lead the losers list among the auto stocks. It is now down 11.5% at Rs 1,202. Hero Honda has tumbled nearly 7% to Rs 1,825. Cummins, Tata Motors, Apollo Tyres, Ashok Leyland and Amtek Auto are the other major losers. Exide, however, has rallied nearly 3% to Rs 138.

In the realty space - Sobha Developers has slumped nearly 5% to Rs 330. HDIL has tumbled over 4% to Rs 258, and Orbit Corporation has dropped 3.5% to Rs 135. DLF, Ackruti City, Indiabulls Realestate, Phoenix Mills, Anant Raj and Parsvanath are the other major losers.

Jaiprakash Associates is the prominent losers among the other Sensex stocks - down 5.5% at RS 121. SBI, Hindalco, HDFC and Larsen & Toubro are the other prominent losers.

Bharti Airtel has bucked the trend, and is now up over 1% at Rs 318. TCS and Infosys are the other notable gainers.

The market breadth is fairly negative - out of 2,953 stocks traded so far, 1,802 have declined and 1,065 have advanced.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty has declined 30 points to 5,419.