Sensex ends down 284pts

Sensex has ended (provisional) down 284 opints at 15,867. Nifty ended down 77 points at 4,772.
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(Updated at 1434 hrs)

Markets continue to languish near the day's low on weak cues from Asian markets as selling continued in banking shares. The Sensex dropped to a low of 15,745 in late-noon trades and is now down 312 points or 2% at 15,838. Nifty is down 86 points at 4,763.

A weak opening of European bourses weighed on sentiments. Asian markets continued to slip amid fears of Europe's debt troubles.  The Nikkei slipped 1% to 8,456. Hang Seng was down 3.4% while Seoul and Straits markets also shed around that level.

Banking stocks fell today with the BSE bankex dropping 3.5% to 10,186.

State Bank of India's (SBI) financial strength rating (BFSR) has been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service on the banking entity's capital situation and deteriorating asset quality. SBI's BFSR has been downgraded from D+ from C-. The stock fell 4.7% to Rs 1,774. Among other banking stocks, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank accounted for over 80 points fall in the Sensex.

BSE auto, oil & gas and PSU indices were down nearly 2% as well.

In the auto space Tata Motors slipped 4.5% and Mahindra & Mahindra dropped 3.4%. Metal names like Jindal Steel, Coal India and Sterlite slipped 3-4% each.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki advanced 2% to Rs 1,100 after the month long standoff between workers and management at its Manesar plant ended. Larsen & Toubro, Wipro, Tata Steel and Bhel gained around 1% each.