Sensex ends down 143pts

Sensex has finally ended (provisional) at 18,715 - down 143 points. Nifty has ended down 44 points at 5,617.
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(Updated at 1440 hrs)

Markets extended losses in late-noon trades on weakness in realty, IT and metal sectors. Negative cues from global markets also took the bourses lower. The Sensex touched a low of 18,706 after trading in the red the whole day. The index is now down 125 points at 18,733. Nifty is down 44 points at 5,616.

Asian markets were in red on a higher-than-expected unemployment data from the US. Hang Seng slipped 1.6% to 22,347. Nikkei was down 0.7% at 10,069. Straits Times, Seoul Composite and taiwan Weighted was down around 1% each.

The earnings season has begun with HDFC announcing its quarterly numbers on Friday. The housing mortgage lender reported a 22% y-o-y growth in net profit to Rs 844.53 crore for the April-June quarter of the current fiscal. The stock is down around 1% at Rs 707.

The next result to watch out for is IT bellweather, Infosys, which is set to come out on tuesday. The stock is down 2% at Rs 2,914 - the biggest dragger in the benchmark.

The government has set a target of merchandise exports of $300 billion in the fiscal year through March 2012, after shipments topped the government's estimate and rose to a record high of $245.9 billion last year.

In other news, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday, 8 July 2011, said the government's revenue collections so far have been healthy and he doesn't expect any slippage in the fiscal year target of Rs 7.9 lakh crore.

Metal stocks continued to slip, extending Friday's fall due to the Mining Bill. The Bill, which calls for miners to give to local communities an amount equivalent to royalties so as to compensate people displaced by such projects, will now go to the Cabinet for approval. BSE metal index was down 1.5% at 14,751.

Hindalco has shed 5% at Rs 180. Tata Steel is down 1% at Rs 589. Jindal Steel and NTPC are also in red.

Foreign Institutional Investors have continued with their buying spree. Since July 4,2011 FIIs have invested around Rs 3,077 crore in Indian markets.

The market breadth is negative today. Out of 2,883 stocks traded, 1,492 have declined while 1,277 have advanced.