Sensex closes below 17,000 mark

Mumbai, May 14: Benchmark Sensex closed below the psychological mark of 17,000 after witnessing huge selling pressure in the second half of trade - especially after European markets opened in red.

Sensex shed 271 points to end at 16994 and Nifty was down 85 points at 5093. Nifty future closed 24 points down.

At the time of closing of the Indian markets, European markets were down 1.5 to 3pc.

4:21 PM

Sensex down 148pts; metals, oil&gas dip

Weak European opening led to Nifty losing close to 0.5pc. Heavy selling in metals, oil&gas, realty and banking stocks was putting the Markets under pressure.

However, buying interest were witnessed in FMCG and pharma stocks .

At 2:42 pm, Sensex was trading at 17,117.75, down 148.12, while Nifty was down 49.05 at 5129.85.

Top gainers on the Nifty: Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, ITC, HCL Tech and BPCL slipped 1.2 to 2.2pc.

Top losers on the Nifty: Cairn India, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Unitech and Jaiprakash Associates plunged 2.2 to 3.4pc.

In the midcap space, BF Utilities, Sun Pharma Advance, Godrej Industries, Bajaj Finserv and Tata Tea gained 3.5 to 12.5pc, while Aban Offshore dipped more than 15pc. Hind Nat Glass, Gee Kay Finance, Hind Oil Explor and MTNL declined 3 to 5pc.

Global cues:

Asian markets were trading more or less flat. European markets started in red. CAC lost 2pc. DAX lost 0.7pc and FTSE was down close to 1pc.

2:47 PM

Nifty trades in narrow range; RIL dips 5pc

Benchmark Nifty was trading in narrow range of 5160-5190, owing to lack of Asian cues. After the initial sell-off, Asian markets were in mixed in trade.

At 11:40 am, Sensex was trading at 17,264.99, down 0.88 points, while Nifty was at 5171.95, down 6.95 points.

Selling were seen in metal and private financial companies' shares. 5pc decline in heavyweight Reliance Industries share put the under the market under pressure.

Other losers were Cairn India, M&M, Unitech and Tata Motors.

The loses were capped to a major extent by buying in technology, capital goods, telecom, healthcare and cement companies' shares.

11:51 AM

Mkts open flat; Bharti Aircel shines

Markets opened on flat note with negative bias after closing trade with marginal gains on Thursday, May 13.

Weak global cues put the market under pressure to an extent, apart from which the markets were seeing rangebound trade.All sectors were witnessing mixed trade.

At 9:02 am, the Nifty was trading at 5,164, down 15 points and the Sensex was at 17,229, down 36 points.

Among the frontliners, gainers in the early trade were Bharti Airtel, ITC and HUL. However, Idea, Cairn, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel & Power were the losers.

Aban Offshore slipped 16pc post the sinking of Pearl in Caribbean. According to experts its FY11 revenue loss is likely at USD 120 million.

MTNL plunged 5pc on disappointing results, with an increase in its net loss to Rs 1,573.7 crore against the net loss of Rs 894.9 crore (QoQ).

Newly listed - Nitesh Estates dipped 2.4pc, which had lost 5pc on day one. Talwalkars Fitnesss slipped 1.4pc on profit booking.

Ballarpur Industries gained 3pc. Everest Kanto and Exide Industries gained 1pc each.

Global cues:

Asian markets were trading lower. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Kospi and Taiwan tanked 0.1 to 0.7pc. Nikkei plunged 1.6pc.

The US markets closed lower after gaining nearly 5pc during last three trading sessions. Dollar index zoomed post 85.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 114 points lower at 10783. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 31 points at 2394 and S&P 500 down 14 points at 1157.

Market cues:

Inflation data for April will be released on Friday, May 14.

OneIndia News

9:41 AM