Sensex ends below 16,000 on eco growth concerns

Reliance, Infosys top Sensex losers

Benchmark share indices ended 1.7% down on Friday, amid weak global cues, on concerns over economic growth slowdown and subdued gowth outlook for fiscal 2013.

The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 278 points or  1.7%  at  15,941 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 83 points or 1.7% at 4,842.

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(Updated at 14:32 hrs)

A spate of bad news from the global and local markets have send the Sensex crashing below the 16,000 mark briefly in  afternoon trades. However, the Sensex retraced some of its lost ground at 16,012 down 205 points and the Nifty was down 70 points at 4,854. The Sensex touched an intra-day low of 15,997 and the Nifty touched 4,850 so far.

Further, investor sentiment was marred after China's economy betrayed signs of a broadening slowdown as surveys of its vast factory sector showed momentum eased in May, signalling a deeper-than-forecast deterioration in demand at home and abroad and the likelihood of more policy easing.The HSBC China manufacturing PMI, retreated to 48.4 from 49.3 in April - its seventh straight month.

Meanwhile, India's manufacturing sector kept up its steady expansion in May, with fast-rising output evened out by slowing growth of domestic order books. The HSBC manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, slipped marginally to 54.8 in May from 54.9 in April.

In the international markets, weak Chinese data and worries about Spain's banking sector drove the euro to two-year lows against the dollar and safe-haven German Bund futures towards record highs on Friday. CAC and DAX was down 0.5% and 1% respectively while FTSE was up 0.2%

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average slid  to mark its ninth straight week of losses, the longest such run in 20 years, after disappointing Chinese and US data deepened fears of a global slowdown in the throes of Europe's debt crisis. The index lost 1.2%. The other major losers were Taiwan Weighted, Straits, Hang Seng down 0.5-3%. Shanghai Composite which was flat with a positive bias was the only exception.

The broader indices too are witnessing sharp sell off with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices down over 1% each.

Except FMCG, all the other sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in the negative. OIL & Gas down 2% remained the top loser as the depreciating rupee would result in higher payments for crude oil imports. Both ONGC and index heavyweight Reliance Industries were down 2-3%.

Capital Goods, Power, IT were the other major losers down over 1.5%.

Capital goods shares were down on concerns of order inflows coupled with economic growth slowdown after government data Thursday showed a sharp drop in fourth quarter GDP growth, which slumped to a 9 year low. BHEL and L&T were both down 2% each.

Among the Sensex stocks, ITC, Hindalco, ICICI Bank and Coal India managed to stay in the positive territory and was up 0.2-1%.

Jindal Steel & Power down 3% which hit 52-week low was leading the losses among the Sensex scrips. Tata Motors, Gail India, HDFC Bank, Wipro, Maruti Suzuki and Infosys down 2-2.5% were the other notable losers.

Markets breadth was negative. 1719 stocks declined while 828 stocks advanced.