Markets end near day's low

Sensex ends down 116 points

Markets ended toaday's trading session near the intra-day low levels on the back of selling pressure witnessed by the IT and metal stocks. The Sensex provisionally ended at 17,097, down 117 points and the Nifty slipped 33 points to provisionally close at 5,194.
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(Updated at 1445 hours)

Markets have plunged lower in the late noon deals on the back of selling pressure visible in Infosys, TCS and Tata Steel. The Sensex is down 71 points at 17,142 and the 50-share Nifty has shed 20 points at 5,208 levels. For the most part of the day markets had a range bound session and the Sensex traded in a range of 120 points.

Meanwhile, European shares edged down on Monday after registering a sixth straight week of gains on Friday. The FTSE, CAC 40 and DAX were down 0.2-0.4% each.

Asian markets ended mixed Shanghai Composite slumped following dismal earnings reported by corporates, even as economic fears continued to haunt investors while, Hang Seng ended flat at 19,121 levels.

Back home, Tata Steel continues to remain the top loser, down 3.6% at Rs 410 on turning ex-dividend today.  TCS, Jindal Steel, Tata Power, Infosys, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Gail India, Wipro, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries are also among the laggards, down 1-3% each.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel is the top gainer from the heavyweight space, up 4% at Rs 320. Dr Reddy's Labs, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, SBI, Cipla and ONGC are among the gainers up 0.7-2.2% each.

IT and metal stocks are amongst the worst hit in trades today. Led by losses in heavyweights such as Infosys and TCS the BSE IT index has shed 2% or 104 points at 5,256 levels. The metal index is also down 1.5% at 10,477. Teck, capital goods, realty, power and auto indices are also trading on a weak note, down 0.2-0.8% each.

At the same time, BSE healthcare index is trading higher 1.2% at 7,017. It touched an all-time high at 7,024 in trades today. Consumer durables, oil & gas, bankex and FMCG indices are also trading higher by 0.2-1.4% each.

Among the individual stocks, Kingfisher Airlines has dipped almost 5% at Rs 9.85, falling below its face value of Rs 10. The stock is currently trading at a record low on the Bombay Stock Exchange, after a large number of its employees went on a strike from Saturday, leading to cancellation of over 40 flights.

Avanti Feeds has soared 12% at Rs 161, also its lifetime high, after reporting 43% year-on-year (y-o-y) jump in net profit at Rs 7.72 crore for the quarter ended June 2012, on back of higher operational income and lower finance cost. Net sales grew 41% at Rs 159 crore on y-o-y basis.

The broader markets are trading on a listless note. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices have slipped 0.2% each.

The overall breadth is negative as 1,514 stocks are declining while 1,192 are advancing.