Markets end 5-day winning streak, Sensex down 85 pts

Benchmark share indices ended lower on Tuesday, snapping their five-day winning streak, as investors booked profits in index heavyweight Infosys along with capital goods shares.

The 30-share Sensex ended at 17,622 down 85 points and the 50-share Nifty ended at 5,335, down 27 points. The Sensex and the Nifty reached an intra-day low of 17,582 levels and 5,323 mark, respectively.

Meanwhile, India's gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to grow an annual 6.9% in the 2011-12 fiscal year, a government statement said on Tuesday, citing provisional estimates.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed as renewed fears of a messy debt default gave pause to mounting hopes the global economy is improving. European markets are trading weak with FTSE, CAC and DAX declining marginally.

Back home, BSE Capital Goods, Realty, Power and Metal indices slipped nearly 2% each. However, sectors like Oil & Gas, Banks and Consumer Durable gained by nearly 1% each.

From the Capital Goods space, BHEL was the top Sensex loser, down 4% on concerns of delay in order inflows. L&T declined by over 1%

Bharti Airtel fell 3% ahead of its third quarter numbers tomorrow. Telecom stocks slumped after telecom regulator indicated it may have to intervene if telecom operators decide to increase tariffs. Idea Cellular ended down 4% and Reliance COmmunications slipped 3.6%.

IT major Infosys dropped by nearly 2%. However, TCS rose 1% after the company inked a multi-year, multi-million euro contract with European car rental company Europcar for deployment of IT services in France. Wipro gained marginally.

From the Metal space, Tata Steel, Sterlite, Hindalco and Jindal Steel declined between 2-3%.

Among Auto shares, M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto reduced between 1-3%. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd , a utility vehicles maker, reported a bigger-than-expected 9.9% fall in quarterly profit, as rising commodity costs put pressure on margins.

HUL declined nearly 1% on earnings quality concerns post its December quarter results.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries surged almost 2% to Rs 863 after the foreign brokerage house Goldman Sachs upgraded the company to buy from neutral, citing a potential lift in margins on increased refining and recovering oil demand. ONGC was the top Sensex gainer, up approximately 2%.

From the banking and financial space, private banking majors HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank gained by almost 1% each. However, SBI and HDFC plunged between 1-2%.

The broader markets ended lower with the Mid-cap index down 0.8% and the Small-cap index declined 0.3%.

Aviation stocks like Spice Jet, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines zoomed on reports on reports the government panel recommended up to 49% foreign direct investment by foreign airlines, direct import of jet fuel by airlines.

Adani Power has dipped 7% on reporting a net loss of Rs 358 crore for the third quarter ended December 2011, as against a net profit of 109 crore in the same period a year ago.

The overall market breadth in BSE ended unhealthy with 1,250 shares advancing and 1,637 shares declining.