Sensex down by 352.56 points, closes at 19,280

Mumbai, Nov 20: The Sensex today closed in the red on the Bombay Stock Exchange, down by 352.56 points, to settle at 19,280.80 on sustained heavy selling pressure by Foreign Institutional Investors (FII's) and local domestic investors.

Brokers said ''The market slipped deep into the red in late trade as IT and Metal stocks tumbled. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank also faltered. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in red. Banking, power, realty and capital goods stocks declined. Market breadth, though positive, weakened substantially in late trading compared to strong breadth earlier during the day.

European markets, which opened after the Indian market, were in green. Asian markets were mixed''.

Worries of impact of credit troubles on the broader US economy heightened after Goldman Sachs yesterday downgraded Citigroup's stock to sell from neutral, forecasting more write-downs by the largest US bank because of mortgage losses.

The 30 scrips of BSE Sensex resumed low at 19,510.94. Sensex hit a low of 19,196.41 in late trade. At day's low of 19,196.41 Sensex had lost 436.94 points from its last close.

The S&P CNX Nifty was down nearly by 127.35 points or 1.95 per cent to close at 5,780.90, before it opened high at 5911.25 points from it last close of 5907.65 points. The Nifty index recorded a low at 5755.80 points in intra day trade.

The market had bounced back from lower levels in early afternoon trade amid volatility as some Asian markets came off the lower level.

Sensex touched a high of 19,714.22 in early afternoon trade. At day's high, Sensex had risen 80.86 points. The market opened with a downward gap in early trade tracking weak global markets.

The BSE Mid-Cap index declined by 0.94 per cent to 8,648.96 and the BSE Small-Cap index rose by 0.29 per cent to 10,704.37. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

European markets opened on a positive note. France's CAC 40 was up by 0.16 pc to 5,440.95, followed by Germany's DAX by 0.45 pc to 7,547.96 and UK's FTSE 100 by 0.08 pc to 6,126.60.

Most of the Asian markets were in the green. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 1.13 pc to 27,771.21 followed by Japan's Nikkei rose by 1.12 pc to 15,211.52 and Singapore's Straits Times gained by 0.78 pc at 3,438.27. Taiwan Weighted index was flat at at 8,680, which did not impact the Indian bourses.

South Korea's Seoul Composite index was down by 1.12 pc at 1,872.24.

US markets suffered sharp losses yesterday, after a broker downgrade of Citigroup sparked concerns of more mortgage losses and fears of slumping auto sales hammered GM shares. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged by 218.35 points, or 1.66 pc, to 12,958.44.

The S&P 500 index fell by 25.47 points, or 1.75 pc, to 1,433.27, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped by 43.86 points, or 1.66 pc, to 2,593.38.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery was down 26 cents at USD 94.38 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for January delivery eased 33 cents to USD 91.95, brokers added.

IT stocks extended losses in late trade on concerns over the US economy. Infosys was down by 3.99 pc to Rs 1,555 followed by Tata Consultancy Services by 2.65 pc to Rs 962, Wipro by 1.95 pc to Rs 448.50 and Satyam Computer Services by 1.57 pc to Rs 416 edged lower.

State Bank of India (SBI) declined by 1.08 pc to Rs 2,280. UCO Bank jumped by 7.99 pc to Rs 61 and Dena Bank soared 5.46 pc to Rs 92.75.

ICICI Bank was down by 1.33 pc to Rs 1,171.05 and HDFC Bank eased by 1.04 pc to Rs 1,638 edged lower.

Index heavyweight and India's largest private sector firm by market capitalisation Reliance Industries was down by 1.74 pc to Rs 2,803, off the session's high of Rs 2,857.80.

Capital goods stocks declined. Bharat Heavy Electricals eased by 4.65 pc to Rs 2,654.20 followed by Suzlon Energy by 2.54 pc to Rs 2,041.05 and Larsen&Toubro by 0.73 pc to Rs 4,336.35 edged lower.

Tata Power Company declined by 4.09 pc to Rs 1,220.05, NTPC eased by 1.58 pc to Rs 261.40 and Reliance Energy came down by 1.27 pc to Rs 1,804.

Realty stocks declined. DLF declined by 3.78 pc to Rs 912. Merrill Lynch (ML) has reportedly acquired 49 pc equity stake in seven residential projects of DLF for Rs 1,481 crore.

Hindalco Industries was down by 5.5 pc to Rs 194.15,followed by Bharat Heavy Electricals by 4.65 pc to Rs 2,654.20, Maruti Suzuki by 4.11 pc to Rs 1,010.25 and Grasim Industries by 3.48 pc to Rs 3,735 edged lower.

Unitech dropped by 4.64 pc to Rs 379.90, on reports the company was foraying into Mumbai with a commercial project spread over 80 acre near the Bandra Kurla complex. However, Indiabulls Real Estate rose 0.68 pc to Rs 663.50.

However, Tata Motors was up by 0.77 pc to Rs 708 followed by ACC by 0.38 pc to Rs 1,088, Hindustan Unilever by 0.34 pc to Rs 205.50, Tata Steel by 0.25 pc to Rs 864.90 and Bajaj Auto by 0.16 pc to Rs 2,430 edged higher.

Jindal Stainless was the top gainer from A group and rose by 15.29 pc to Rs 204. Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore was up by 4.95 pc to Rs 47.70,followed by D-Link (India) by 4.54 pc to Rs 91, MIRC Electronics by 4.36 pc to Rs 33.50, Nirma by 4.02 pc to Rs 220 were other major gainers from A group, brokers added. UNI