Sensex ends 112 points down despite some late buying

The market saw some spirited buying in select blue chip stocks during the final hour of the session, but still ended the session with notable losses as the rally was not strong enough to pull the indices out of the red.

It was a weak start for the market due to a sell-off in Asian markets amid worries about the global economy following rating agencies warning about the possibility of downgrading several European nations due to the ongoing financial crisis. Worries about domestic economy and falling margins of India Inc too weighed on sentiment to a significant extent. The rupee's weakness against the dollar hurt as well.

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In early trades this morning, the Indian currency eased to Rs 53.18 against the greenback, losing nearly half a rupee from last Friday's closing mark.

After languishing deep down in negative territory for around five hours, the market regained some lost ground with select blue chips from oil, FMCG, automobile and metal sectors garnering some support.

However, with several stocks from capital goods, banking, realty and power sectors staying deep down in negative territory on sustained selling pressure, the market ended the session on a weak note. Though the central bank left key rates unchanged while coming out with its monetary policy statement last Friday, the decision to keep CRR at 6% appears to have hurt traders and prompted them to indulge in some heavy selling in the banking space.

Information technology and healthcare stocks found some support, but failed to sustain momentum.

The Sensex, which plunged to 15,190.74, losing a little over 300 points in the process, ended the day at 15,379.34 with a loss of 112.01 points or 0.72%. The Nifty ended at 4613.10, well off the day's low of 4555.90, recording a loss of 38.50 points or 0.83%. In on Monday's session, the Sensex and Nifty touched their lowest levels since 21 August 2009 and 3 November 2009 respectively.

Mirroring the sell-off in midcap and smallcap stocks, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices drifted down by around 2% and 2.5% respectively.

Capital goods heavyweights Larsen & Toubro and BHEL ended sharply lower, losing 4% and 3.7% respectively. Jindal Steel, DLF, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Power and Jaiprakash Associates lost 2% - 3.3%.

Maruti Suzuki, Infosys, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Hero Motocorp, ONGC and Mahindra & Mahindra also ended notably lower.

Tata Motors gained nearly 4.5%. Coal India (1.9%) and Reliance Industries (1.8%) moved up sharply in the final hour, contributing significantly to the market's rise from lower levels. FMCG heavyweights Hindustan Unilever and ITC and metal stock Sterlite Industries also ended on a firm note.

Axis Bank, down nearly 6%, was the most prominent loser in the Nifty index. Punjab National Bank ended lower by a little over 4%. Kotak Bank, Sesa Goa, IDFC, Reliance Power and Siemens also closed with notable losses.

Cairn India, SAIL, Power Grid Corporation, Grasim Industries, Ambuja Cements, ACC, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Reliance Infrastructure closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Bata India, Wockhardt, Allahabad Bank, Biocon, Jain Irrigation Systems, Jet Air India, Manappuram Finance and Union Bank of India lost 6% - 11%. Indiabulls Financial Services, REC, NMDC, Suzlon Energy, Power Finance Corporation, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers, Mundra Port, Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Andhra Bank also declined sharply.

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Redington India spurted more than 6%. Shree Renuka Sugars moved up nearly 5.5%. Lanco Infratech, Tata Communications, Sintex Industries, Apollo Tyres, Educomp Solutions, CESC, IDBI Bank, Godrej Consumer Products and Tech Mahindra also ended on a firm note.

The market breadth was very weak. Out of 2883 stocks traded on BSE, 2066 stocks declined. 726 stocks moved higher and 91 stocks ended flat.