Markets recover partially at close

Having languished in the red for most part of the day, the markets recovered nearly 200 points from the day's low and ended close to the day's high.

The BSE Sensex ended at 16,372, down 90 points and the S&P CNX Nifty ended at 4,906, down 29 points.

In Asia, the Nikkei stock average slid below 8,400 to its lowest level in more than a month, after surging bond yields in euro zone nations spooked investors and fuelled fears of tightening global credit conditions.

The Nikkei fell 1.2% to 8,375, marking a weekly loss of 1.6%. The broader Topix index shed 1.1% to 720, losing 1.3% for the week.

The Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng indices ended lower by nearly 2%.

In Europe, investors sold shares on Friday as confidence in the eurozone's latest bailout attempts continued to waver. At 1500 hours, the London's FTSE was down 1%, the Paris Cac 40 and Frankfurt's Dax indices were down marginally.

Meanwhile, the rupee skidded beyond 51 against the dollar to its lowest in 32 months on Friday, and was set for its third weekly fall, weighed down by rising oil import payments and slowing exports and foreign inflows.

Worsening debt crisis in Europe, which could further roil the global economy, added to the gloom, traders said.

Back home, among the sectoral indices, BSE Realty, FMCG, Metal and Auto indices, down 1-2% each, led the losses.

From the Realty space, Parsvnath Developers traded lower by 20% at Rs 58 after the promoters of the company pledged 71% of their holding.

According to reports, at current market price, the value of pledged shares is nearly Rs 1200 crore which is roughly half the size of current market cap of the entire company.

Other prominent losers from the Realty space were D B Realty, Peninsula Land and Anant Raj Industries, down 4-6% each.

On the Sensex, BHEL shed nearly 3% at Rs 276.

ITC, TCS and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major draggers on the Sensex, accounting for a 64-point loss to the index.

The gainers among the Sensex 30 stocks were Hero MotoCorp, Tata Power, Wipro, Sun Pharma Industries and HDFC, up nearly 1-3% each.

Among individual stocks, Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company hit the 20% lower circuit at Rs 56. As per the news reports, income tax officials visited the company's premises for verification of certain issues.

"There was no disruption of any kind at the production units and the business of the company was carried out as usual," the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange after the market hours yesterday.

JSW Energy shed nearly 6% at Rs 43.15 as the company got yet another jolt on Thursday, when Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission rejected its petition to pass on increased fuel costs to the state utility. JSW had approached the MERC after its dispute with the state distribution utility over revision of tariff for its 300 mw unit at Jaigad, Ratnagiri.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,989 stocks declined against 882 advancing ones, on the BSE.