Sensex ends down 207pts

The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 16,148 - down 207 points.
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(Updated at 1431 hrs)

The markets have lost further ground in the past one hour. The Sensex is now at 16,261, down 94 points and the Nifty is at 4,858, down 41 points. Banking and energy have slipped furthe rin the red, while IT and consumer durrables are bucking the trend.

Among the laggards, Jaiprakash Associates has dropped 2.4% to Rs 137, NTPC has shed 2.1% at Rs 206 and Reliance Communications has slipped 1.7% at Rs 170. SBI and L&T are the other notable losers.

Index heavyweight, Reliance had weakened by 1.5% to Rs 1030. And NTPC has slipped 2.3% to Rs 206 ahead of its FPO scheduled to begin on February 3. 

On the other hand, Hindalco is up 2.4% at Rs 152, HDFC has added 1.4% to Rs 2,418 and Sun Pharma has hardened by 0.8% to Rs 1519.

The market breadth had turned neutral. Out of 2,899 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1,401 advancing stocks as against 1405 declines.