Selling pressure kept the markets down in the morning session, with the Sensex down 55 points at 19,534 and the Nifty at 5,864 down 22 points.
This morning's positive opening, wherein the Sensex touched the day's high of 19,697, was disrupted during the mid-morning trades, when the markets slipped into the red. When nearing the late morning session, the Sensex touched the day's low of 19,464, a drop of 233 points from the day's high. However, the markets were seen recovering their losses partially thereafter.
Sterlite Industries was the top gainer on the Sensex up nealry 2% at Rs 178, followed by Bharti Airtel at Rs 362 also up almost 2%, and ITC at Rs 184 up 1%. HDFC Bank added 0.5% at Rs 2,367, followed by L&T and Hindustan Unilever, both up 0.4% and 0.2% respectively.
On the losing side, Jaiprakash Associates led the index at Rs 96 down over 2%, while Wipro at Rs 463 lost nearly 2%. Tata Motors at Rs 1,269 shed 2% almost, and Hero Honda at Rs 1,671 shed 1.4%. Hindalco Industries, ONGC, Reliance Infra, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto were all down 1% each.
The broader markets, which outperformed the benchmark yesterday, were trading in the red. The Mid-cap index at 7,220 let of 0.6%, while the Small-cap index shed 0.8% to 8,831.
All the sectoral indices were in the red, except the FMCG and Capital Goods indices, which were flat at 3,638 and 13,727 respectively.
Realty stocks, which rallied over the past few sessions, witnessed profit-booking, and the index declined 1.3% to 2,494. Auto shares were also down, and the index slipped over 1% to 9,454, while the PSU index at 9,081 shed 1%.
Amongst the realty stocks, HDIL at Rs 189, Indiabulls Real Estate at Rs 139 and Ackruti City at Rs 243, all down 3%, were the major losers. Phoenix Mills, Orbit Corp and Sobha Developers also slipped nearly 3% each.
With 1,593 declining stocks and 1,062 advancing stocks, the market breadth remained negative.