Markets end lower on fresh global crisis

The Goldman Sachs episode continued to weigh on Indian bourses today as markets opened with a negative gap. The Sensex dropped over 200 points almost immediately, as weakness was seen in Asian markets.

Selling pressure in realty and metal stocks, saw the Sensex touch a low of 17,277 - down 314 points (1.7%) from the previous close.

However, positive cues from the European markets helped the Sensex to recover some of its losses. The BSE benchmark finally ended at 17,401 - down 191 points (1%).

The Nifty ended at 5,204- down 59 points. Through the day the index touched a high of 5,279 and a low of 5,161, respectively.

Global markets have been falling ever since the Goldman episode bebag. US regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission had accused Goldman Sachs of fraud tied to collatorised debt obligations that contributed to the financial crisis.

However, the New York-based bank had denied any wrong doing on April 16.

Banking stocks were in focus ahead of the RBI policy meet. There is a general concensus that the central bank may hike rates in order to tighten the monetary policy.

The BSE bankex recovered from the day's low of 10,389 to end at 10,519.

However, realty and metal indices remained weak through the day and ended with over 2% loss, each.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices were also in red. The mid-cap index dropped 1% to 6,951 while small-cap index slipped 1.5% to 8,882.

Heavyweights dragged the markets. Reliance dropped 2% to 1,062. Infosys shed 1.2% to 2,752.

DLF slumped 4% to Rs 316. Tata Steel tumbled 3.5% to Rs 670. Sterlite was down 3% at Rs 813.

ONGC, Wipro and Reliance Infrastructure dropped 2.5% each. Sun Pharma shed 2% at Rs 1,765. ITC, Maruti Suzuki, ACC, Reliance Communications, Hero Honda and Tata Power also ended in red.

TCS erased its gains and ended down marginally at Rs 812.

However, Hindalco bucked trends and jumped 2% to Rs 178.

The BSE market breadth was negative. Out of 3,021 stocks traded, 1,950 declined while 953 advanced.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS:

Sesa Goa topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 142.39 crore, followed by Tata Steel (Rs 95.38 crore), Reliance (Rs 88.47 crore) and Unitech (Rs 68.31 crore).

FCS Software led the volume chart with trades of over 15.77 million, followed by Unitech (8.55 million), Birla POwer (7.68 million), Amtek Auto (6.10 million) and Aqua Logistics (6.06 million).