Sensex falls below 12,000 mark dipping sharply to 11,875

Mumbai, Apr 21 (UNI) Stock markets were in downward move falling below 12,000 mark on the BSE Sensex this afternoon and taking a 227 points dip from the day's high of 12,102 while trading at 11,875 this afternoon (1330 hrs).

Earlier the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened with a gain of 14 points at 12,053 as compared to the last close of 12,039.

The Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE went to another all time high of 12,102 points this morning but remained quite volatile.

Sensex was in and out of red and green through the mid-morning session but then dipped sharply in the afternoon.

Sensex was trading 163 points down at 11,875 around 1330 hrs.

Foreign fund outflow due to continued selling by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) by Rs 201.10 crore, as reported by the SEBI on Wednesday when Sensex gained 74 points, was hurting investors' sentiment.

Record high crude oil price at USD 71-72 per barrel was also hurting market sentiments.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index traded 42 points down at 3,531 points at 1335 hrs.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE Metal index was down by 4.14 per cent, BSE Oil &Gas index was down by 2.33 per cent, BSE Information Technology index was down by 1.72 per cent, and Technology Index index was down by 1.65 per cent.

BSE midcap index was down by 0.77 per cent whereas the BSE smallcap index was down by 0.73 per cent.

The top gainers on the Sensex were led by Ranbaxy Laboratories up by more than five per cent.

Few other gainers were Maruti, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, HLL, Larsen&Toubro, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and HDFC Bank.

The big losers were Satyam, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Wipro, NTPC, SBI, ONGC and Bharti.

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