Sensex ends down 135 points

The Sensex closed down 135 points at 19,455 and the Nifty shed 43 points at 5,842.

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(Updated at 1435 hrs)
The Sensex continues to trade in the red slipping further down in the afternoon trades. The index is currently down 146 points at 19,444 and the Nifty shed 48 points at 5,837. In the broader markets, after several days of outperformance, the smallcap and midcap indices are underperforming, down 1% each compared to Sensex down 0.7%

Earlier the day, the Sensex opened in the positive wherein the BSE benchmark index touched the day's high of 19, 697, only to slide into the negative in the early afternoon trades. From there on the Sensex moved sideways to touch a low of 19,410, down 287 points from day's high.

After rallying around 10%, markets have been moving sideways for the past three sessions. Brokerages expect markets to trade in a range as fundamental factors remain unchanged. Edelweiss in its alternative monthly insights noted, “A major part of the rally could be attributed to the flows from the exchange traded funds. Still concerns like inflation, rising crude prices, deficit related issues, tumultuous political environment are far from over."

The FII (Foreign Institutional Investor) investments have slowed in the past few sessions, according to provisional data from Bombay Stock Exchange FIIs were net buyers of Rs 221 crore while DIIs were net sellers of Rs 213 crore in the equity market.

Realty and Auto down 2% each continue to drag the markets lower. Even the positive new os increased sales in automobile failed to cheer the sector.According to the figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, total sales of vehicles across categories registered 19.42% growth to 14,65,909 units in March, 2011, from 12,27,511 units in the same month last year.After rallying for nearly nine trading sessions, the realty index has dragged into the negative by the profit booking seen since today morning.

Bharti Airtel up 1.5% and ITC gaining 0.3% are the only gainers among the Sensex-30 stocks.

Among the top losers are DLF down nearly 4%, Jaiprakash Associates, Hindalco and Tata Motors shedding 3% each. Reliance Infrastructure, Hero Honda, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, Wipro losing between 1-2% are the other major losers.

The market breadth is very negative. Of the total 2999 stocks traded on the BSE, 1954 stocks have declined while 963 advanced.