The Sensex ended flat after exhibiting lacklustre movement throughout the day, taking cues from the subdued trend in the major world markets.
The Sensex ended marginally down 0.5% at 16,214, thereby reversing its six-day rally of 5.6% gains.
The Sensex opened 79 points lower after Asian markets opened weak in morning trades. The index then plunged further to touch a low of 16,120, down 144 points. The Sensex traded in the negative zone entire day. The BSE-30 share index tried to recover during final trading hour, however, could not succeed. It touched an intra day high of 16,252, still down 12 points from the previous close.
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.3% to 10,202 today with Toyota Motor Corp and other exporters battered as the dollar hit a 7-month low against the yen.
Hang Seng fell 1.08% on profit-booking today, tracking a subdued trend in the US markets, ignoring gains in the China markets as investors became wary of further gains after the recent rally, as the index gained more than 1,600 points in seven trading sessions.
However, Shanghai Composite ended up 1.2% at 3,027 at a month closing high.
The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,855 stocks, 1,473 advanced, while 1,309 declined.
INDEX SHAKERS...
Sterlite declined the most among the frontliners as the scrip shed 3.5% to Rs 719.
Hindalco slipped 2.5% to Rs 121, after a jump of 18% in a week on the back of high base metal prices.
Grasim was down over 1% to Rs 2,597. Reliance Communications and DLF shed over 1.5% each to Rs 292 and Rs 392, respectively.
ONGC, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank decreased 1.5% each to Rs 1,161, Rs 1,607 and Rs 825, respectively.
Among the Nifty losers, Jindal Steel and National Aluminium declined 2.5% each to Rs 575 and Rs 334, respectively.
...AND THE MOVERS
Tata Steel rose over 2% to Rs 479. Tata Motors and SBI gained nearly 2% to Rs 562 and Rs 1,956, respectively.
Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra advanced 1.5% each to Rs 260 and Rs 831, respectively.
VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS...
Tata Steel led the combined value chart on both the BSE and the NSE with a turnover of Rs 798.6 crore. It was followed by HDIL (Rs 674.35 crore), DLF (Rs 627.7 crore), Aban Offshore (Rs 625 crore) and Reliance (Rs 617.11 crore).
IFCI topped the combined volume chart with trades of over 46.87 million shares. It was followed by Unitech (42.88 million), NHPC (46.66 million), Ispat (39.15 million) and Suzlon (36.48 million).
