Volatile markets end in red

Markets had a positive start following global cues. The Sensex touched a high of 16,141 but slipped soon into the red.

Volatile market rebounded only to slip again and extended losses. The Sensex dropped to a low of 15,892 - down 249 points from the high.

The Sensex ended with a loss of 120 points at 15,922. The Nifty ended down 35 points at 4,757.

The Mid-cap and small-cap indices outperformed the broader markets and ended flat at 6,459 and 8,236, respectively.

Barring realty and consumer durables, all other indices wre in the red. The capital goods index dropped 1.2%, followed by PSU, Power and Bankex.

Mahindra & Mahindra shed 3% at Rs 960. Tata Steel dropped 2.5% to Rs 520.

Tata Power and DLF slipped 2% each to Rs 1,271 and Rs 301, respectively.

SBI, Sun Pharma and ONGC dipped 1.8% each.

Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC and BHEL were the other losers in the index. Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and Reliance were down around 1% each.

However, Jaiprakash Associates and HDFC Bank added 1.5% each to Rs 130 and Rs 1,595, respectively.

Hindalco advanced 1.3% to Rs 136. Sterlite was up margially at Rs 762 on a rise of metal prices on the London Metal Exchnage.

Hero Honda and Bharti Airtel were also in green.

The BSE market breadth turned negative towards the end of the day. Out of 2,888 shares traded, 1,490 declined while 1,309 advanced.

SBI topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 154.38 crore, followed by Tata Steel (Rs 119.93 crore), Aban Offshore (Rs 85.44 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 72.81 crore) and HDIL (Rs 69.27 crore).

The volume chart was led by Cranes Software with trades of over 9.73 million shares, followed by Unitech (9.30 million), Sun TV Networks (8.52 million) and KRBL  (7.73 million) shares.