Sensex ends down 165pts

The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 16,829 - down 165 points. The Nifty has ended (provisional) down 37 points at 5,057.
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(Updated at 1510 hrs)

Engineering major, Larsen & Toubro, has pushed markets towards the path of recovery in late-noon trades.

Markets have recovered smartly from the lows of the day as L&T announced its Q4 results. The Sensex is now at 16,860 - down just 134 points. Earlier in the day, the index had touched a low of 16,551. The Nifty after dropping below the 5,000 mark has regained some strength and is now down 23 points at 5,070.

The BSE mid-cap index has recovered from its low of 6,803 and is now flat at 6,937.

Among the sectoral indices the capital goods index has gained 2.8% to 13,601. The realty, oil and IT sector, however, are still in red.

Larsen & Toubro has jumped 4.5% to Rs 1,598. The company reported quarterly profit rose 44 per cent, beating market estimates, on the back of a pickup in order execution. Net profit rose to Rs 1,438 crore ($315 million) in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March from Rs 999 crore a year ago.

Hindustan Unilever has gained 2.3% at Rs 239. SBI and Bharti Airtel have added around 1% each.

Meanwhile, realty stocks remain soft. DLF has shed 4% to Rs 287. Jaiprakash Associates has dropped 2.8% to Rs 126. Reliance Infrastructure has slipped 2.3% to Rs 1,001.

Wipro has slumped 3.3% to Rs 645. TCS is down 2.5% at Rs 744.

ACC, Tata Motors, ONGC, Reliance Communications are down over 2% each.

Reliance has slipped 2.5% to Rs 1018.

Other losers inlcude BHEL, Tata Steel, Infosys, HDFC bank and Hero Honda.