Rupee, weak global cues drag markets

Bharti Airtel among top losers

Benchmark share indices ended lower after a volatile trading session on Wednesday, amid a weakening rupee and global cues, with telecom major Bharti Airtel leading the fall.

The 30-share Sensex ended down 78 points at 15,948 and the 50-share Nifty down 25 points at 4,836.

The rupee slumped to a new record low of 56.19 to the dollar in intra-day trade on Wednesday so far weighed down by global risk aversion, with the Reserve Bank of India's intervention earlier in the day seen as too mild to prevent further falls.

On the global front, Japan's Nikkei share average shed 2% on Wednesday to a four-month closing low as exporters took a beating on a firmer yen after the Bank of Japan's latest statement raised doubt about its commitment to easing monetary policy.

The BOJ dropped from its latest statement a line that the central bank will pursue powerful monetary easing, saying instead it will conduct appropriate policy, sending the yen higher against the dollar.

Key European share indices ended a two-day rally and safe-haven assets such as the dollar rose on Wednesday, as investors doubted any new measures to tackle the euro-zone debt crisis would emerge from a European leaders summit and on renewed talk of a Greek exit. European markets were trading weak with CAC, DAX and FTSE declining tween 1-2%.

Back home, BSE Consumer Durable index has tumbled by over 2% followed by Capital Goods and Realty down nearly 1% while Metal and Auto indices ended down 0.7% each. However, BSE IT and Healthcare indices ended marginally higher.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel was the top Sensex loser which ended down 4.3% at Rs 282 ahead of the ministry of telecom meeting scheduled for Thursday to decide on spectrum pricing. Idea Cellular ended down 3.5% while Reliance Communications ended 1.9% lower at Rs 63.10.

Tata Power ended down 2% at Rs 88.65, extending its previous day’s over 5% fall, on reporting a consolidated loss of Rs 629 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2012, due to impairment provision related to Mundra project. The company had a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 625 crore in the previous year quarter.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries lost 0.6% to end at Rs 687.20 on reports that its partners BP and Canada's Niko Resources have abandoned the D4 oil and gas block off east coast, further raising production concerns from the location.

Auto stocks witnessed selling pressure on worries that hike in fuel prices which would further dampen sales growth going forward. Hero Moto, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors ended down 1.2- 1.9% each. Among financial stocks, mortgage lender HDFC was the top loser down 1.2% followed by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

Meanwhile, BSE Midcap index has slipped by 0.4% whereas BSE Smallcap index ended down by 0.6%. The market breadth on BSE ended weak with 1,616 shares declined and 1,097 shares advanced.