Markets ended in the negative after swinging between gains and losses due to selling pressure in auto and realty shares; also concerns over slowing global growth weighed.
The S&P CNX Nifty opened in the green and touched a high of 5,434 in the morning session. The index was choppy for a brief period before giving into selling pressure in the afternoon trades as investors fretted over the impact of slowing growth in the United States and a series of rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of India on the corporate profitability. The Nifty closed near day's low, at 5,331, down 71 points (provisional) and the benchmark Sensex ended at 17,688, down 252 points (provisional).
--------------------------------Updated at 14:40 hrs
India's food price index surged to 8.04% and the fuel price index climbed to 12.12% in the year to July 23, raising concerns that the central bank may keep the rates high for an extended period.
Interest rate sensitive BSE Auto and realty shares were leading the losses, down over 1% each
Top losers from the Auto pack were Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors, down almost 1.5% and Mahindra & Mahindra declined 3.7%.
Prominent losers from the realty sector were Anant Raj Industries fell over 7%, HDIL plunged 4% and Parsvanath Developers lost 1.5%.
Top losers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra, down almost 4%, NTPC slipped 2.5% and ITC declined 2.4%. Top gainers were Reliance Infra, up 2%, Hero Honda and Reliance Communication added 0.4%.
Market breadth was negative, 1519 stocks declined for 1208 stocks which advanced.
