Sensex sheds 547 points

The markets closed with the Sensex shedding 547 points at 19,637 and the Nifty lost 159 points to slip below the 6,000 mark at 5,888 (provisional)
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Updated at 1434 hrs
The Sensex may close the last trading day of the week shedding more than 300 points. The markets were negative for the major part of the day as there was a sell off in the auto and metal sectors. The BSE benchmark index is currently down 332 points at 19,852 and the Nifty has lost 98 points to trade at 5,949.

In the broader markets, the situation was no different. The midcap and the smallcap indices shed nearly 2% underperforming the Sensex, which is down 1.6%.

At the start of the trading session today, the Sensex was momentarily in the positive only to slip on back of weak global cues and selling pressure in auto stocks. There was not much recovery in  the markets from there on. The shapest fall was seen in the afternoon trades where the Sensex touched the day's low of 19,818, down 345 points from the opening.

The Asian markets closed the day on a mixed note as Asia scrambles to contain food inflation. Record high food prices are moving to the top of policymaker agendas, driven by fears it could stoke inflation, protectionism and unrest and dent consumer demand in key emerging economies.

KLSE Composite, Nikkei, Seoul Composite and Shanghai Composite gained between 0.1% - 0.5% in today's trades. Meanwhile, Jakarta Composite lost 2% and Taiwan Weighted shed 1%. Hang Seng and Straits Times closed the week  shedding 0.4% and 0.7% respectively.

In the European markets, all the indices opened in the negative for the second day in a row. DAX shed 0.4%, FTSE started down 0.6% and CAC lost 0.8%.

All the sectoral indices are trading in the negative. Metal and Auto scrips are the draggers down nearly 3% followed by IT and Consumer Durables shedding 2% each. The least affected in today's market is the banking space.

ICICI Bank and Reliance Communications up 0.7% and 0.1% are the only gainers on the Sensex.

Hindalco down 6%, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and HDFC losing 3 % - 4%  are the top losers.

The market breadth is very negative. 2308 stocks have declined while 619 have advanced.