Sensex ends down 76 pts

Sensex ended (provisional) at 18,485 - down 76 points. Nifty ends down 20 points at 5,561.
_________________________________________
(Updated at 1428 hrs)

Markets languished near the day's low as weakness was witnessed in auto and IT stocks. Cues from the European peers also dampened investor sentiments, taking the Sensex to a low of 18,449. The index was down 51 points at 18,511. Nifty was down 16 points at 5,564.

European markets were in the red on wories that the US government may not be able to settle on an agreement to cut the fiscal deficit. CAC and DAX were down around 1% each at 3,683 and 7,156, respectively. FTSE has declined 0.7% in trades. Elsewhere, in Asia, Hang Seng slipped 0.3% to 21,804. Markets in New Zealand and Seoul Composite wer down 0.6% each.

Among other news, monsoon rains were above average in June 2011, but dropped to 3% below average after slowing in the first week of July.

Hindustan Unilever has added 0.7% to Rs 332. Tata Global has jumped 2.5% to Rs 103. Nestle India and Colgate Palmolive added 1% each.

IT stocks fell on US and European debt concerns. Wipro shed 0.4% on reports company's Rs 1182 crore contract with Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) for IT services is facing technical problems with the government health insurer's internet portals.  TCS and Infosys, which came out with quarterly numbers last week, were down 1-2% each.

Fears of a high interest rate, which would further reduce demand for credit, dragged bank stocks lower. BSE bankex was flat at 12,842. Kotak Mahindra Bank led the losers list in the sector, followed by ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Union Bank. SBI traded flat at Rs 2,470.

Metal stocks rose, mirroring cues from LME. Hindalco jumped 3% to Rs 182. JSW Steel, Sterlite, Hindustan Zinc and SAIL were up in trades.

Airline stocks rose in the morning after state-owned oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) on Friday, 15 July 2011, hiked jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price by a marginal Rs 78 per kilolitre with effect from Friday midnight. Jet Airways added 0.7% at Rs 510.

Meanwhile, around 34 stocks have touched their respective life-time highs on the BSE this morning - including stocks like HDFC Bank, Nestle India, Cadila Healthcare, Petronet LNG and Amara Raja Batteries. HDFC Bank hit a new high of Rs 519 on the BSE. Last week, the bank had sub-divided face value of its equity shares to Rs 2 from Rs 10 paid-up earlier. Tomorrow, the bank is scheduled to announce its quarterly results.

Fertilizer shares went up on hopes that the government is considering changes in the urea policy. Aries Agro, Rama Phosphates, Deepak Fertiliser, GNFC and Tata Chemicals were trading in green.