Markets ended sharply lower on Thursday recording their second highest fall in 2012, amid weak European cues, on concerns of muted fourth quarter earnings growth. The fall was led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries along with bank shares.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 448 points at 17,154 and 50-share Nifty ended down 137 points at 5,228.
On February 27, 2012, the Sensex had ended down 478 points and the Nifty down 148 points.
________________________________________________
(Updated at 14:37 hrs)
Markets have plunged in the late noon deals tracking weak opening of the European markets and widespread selling pressure visible across the board. The Sensex has shed 224 points to 17,377 levels and the 50-share Nifty has slipped 76 points to 5,285 levels.
The European markets have opened on a weak note. The FTSE is down 31 points at 5,860, CAC is down 45 points at 3,482 levels and the DAX is down 46 points at 7,025 levels.
The Asian markets ended on a subdued note. Hang Seng ended at 20,901, up 45 points, Nikkei added 40 points to close at 10,127, Taiwan also jumped 78 points at 8,059 levels. However, Shanghai eded marginally lower at 2,376 levels.
Back home, selling is visible across the board. Realty, capital goods and oil & gas stocks are amongst the worst hit in trades. The BSE Realty index is the top sectoral loser, down nearly 3% or 51 points at 1,789 levels. HDIL, Unitech, Anant Raj Industries, DLF, Oberoi Realty and Godrej Properties are among the top losers from this space.
Capital Goods index is 2% or 217 points at 10,173 and the Oil & Gas index is also trading lower by 2% or 166 points at 8,071 levels. Power, Bankex, Metal, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, Auto and IT indices have also shed 0.7-1.8% each.
Jindal Steel is the top Sensex loser, down 7% to Rs 547. The stock has slipped on very high volumes. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries is also trading lower by 4% at Rs 739. DLF, L&T, ICICI Bank, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Power, Hindalco and Tata Steel are also trading lower by 2-3.5% each.
On the other hand, Coal India, Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, TCS and HDFC are among the notable gainers.
The broader markets are also trading lower. The mid-cap index is down 112 points at 6,346 and the small-cap index has shed 69 points at 6,643 levels.
The overall breadth is negative as 1,864 stocks are declining while 898 stocks are advancing.
