Sensex ends down 99 pts

Sensex ended (provisional) down 99 points at 16,722. Nifty ended down 23 points at 5,017.
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(Updated at 1438 hrs)

Markets have recovered from the day's lows on the back of a rebound in auto and realty sectors.

Markets opened in the negative zone this morning, mirroring cues from the Asian peers. The Sensex touched a low of 16,561, but managed to recover some lost ground and is down 124 points at 16,821. Nifty is down 31 points at 5,010.

Weak jobs data from the US on Friday and FII selling of over 9,000 crore in August dampened sentiments. Services sector growth has slipped to a two-year low of 53.8 in August from 58.2 in July, according to the HSBC Markit Business Activity Index due to slowing global economy and monetary tightening in India, which also weighed on the investors' mind.

Asian markets ended in the red; Nikkei dropped 1.8% to 8,784. Seoul Composite tanked 4.3% to 1,785. Taiwan, Straits and Chinese markets declined around 2% each. Markets in Europe slipped in line with their Asian counterparts. CAC and DAX were down 2.5% each in trades. Markets in Europe will look towards the Central Bank's monthly policy meeting on interest rates on Thursday.

Today's fall has come after the 6 per cent rally last week.

Most of the sectoral indices were in the red, with IT and oil & gas stocks leading the decline. IT shares were the worst hit after Goldman Sachs cut target price on some of the stocks. BSE IT index slipped 2% to 4,903.

HCL Tech was the biggest loser among IT stocks and dipped 4% to Rs 383. Wipro, Patni Computers, Infosys and MphasiS declined 1-3% each.

Among the other losers, Reliance, HDFC and ONGC contributed to a 60-points fall in the Sensex. ONGC shed 2.8%, HDFC was down 2.2% and NTPC declined 1.5%.

BSE auto index managed to recover from its intra day low and was up 1% at 8,669. Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto advanced on a healthy sales growth for the months of August. Hero Motocorp surged 5% to Rs 2,170. Bajaj Auto gained 2% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up 0.5%. Jaiprakash Associates and Jindal Steel also moved into the green.