The Sensex ended (provisional) at 19,666, down 292 points, and the Nifty shed 84 points at 5,926.
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(Updated at 1453 hrs)
The Sensex after tumbling down over 600 points has pared most of its losses in the mid afternnon trades. The animosity between North Korea and South Korea, coupled with Ireland's woes have lead the decline in the global markets. The Sensex is currently down 259 points at 19,698, up 356 points from the day's low while the Nifty shed 73 points at 5,936
The broader markets too fell sharply. The smallcap index fell more than 2% while the midcap index lost 1.5% in line with the benchmark index.
All the sectoral indices were trading in the red. Realty and Consumer Durables lead the fall dropping 3% and 2% respectively. However, Auto and IT indices were the least affected, shedding 0.5% each.
After opening in the red, the Asian markets continued its subdued trading. At the close, except for Nikkei all the other indices closed in the red. Hang Seng shed over 2.5%,Shanghai Composite lost nearly 2% while Straits Times closed down 1.8%.Meanwhile, Nikkei added 0.9% to close at 10,115.
On negative cues, the European markets too started trading in the negative. CAC and DAX is down 0.6% ecah while FTSE is trading lower by 0.8%
Closer home, Maruti Suzuki gaining 1.5%, HDFC Bank and Hindustan Unilever adding 0.06% and 0.02% respectively are the only gainers in the Sensex-30 stocks.
SBI, Tata Power, ITC and Bharti Airtel losing 2% each are the top losers. Hindalco, Sterlite, ICICI Bank,ONGC, ACC and Reliance Communuications down 1% each are the other significant losers.
The market breadth is very negative due to the global sentiments. 2306 stocks have declined while 641 have advanced on the BSE.