Shrugging off the losses incurred in the early morning trades, the Sensex closed down 38 points at 19,522 and the Nifty lost 10 points to close at 5,864.
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(Updated at 1441 hrs)
The markets have retraced most of their losses in late-noon trades as the positive sentiment across the European market front negated the negative influence of the Asian peers. The Sensex, which had shaved off nearly 300 points at the lowest point of the day, is now just 34 points down at 19551 and the Nifty is at 5872, down one point, with the emergence of selective strength in metal and banking space aiding the recovery. Same is the case with the broader market front; the midcap index is at 7237, lower by four points and the smallcap index is virtually unchanged at 8900.
The markets were weak for the larger part of the day due to negative cues from the Asian front. Major indices in our neighbourhood such as Hang Seng and Nikkei were down in the region of about a percent each, thereby having a cascading effect on the trading activity back home. But a partial recovery in Hong Kong and positive start to the proceedings across Europe seem to have allayed the nervousness back home, atleast for the time-being.
Hindalco is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, strengthening by 1.8% at Rs 382. In the metal space, Hindalco has gained 1.5% at Rs 222 and Jindal Steel has added 0.6% at Rs 693. And the banking space has seen the likes of SBI jumping 0.8% at Rs 2943 and ICICI Bank adding 0.4% at Rs 1118.
Hindustan Unilever tops the losers list on the Sensex, shedding 1.5% at Rs 284. Reliance Infra has lost 1.3% at Rs 684 and Maruti Suzuki, which is seeing profit-booking after its post-results gains on Monday has lost 1.2% at Rs 1310.
The market breadth is negative. Out of 2873 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1142 advancing stocks as against 1619 declines.
