Equities end weak after strong open

Equities took a U-turn on Wednesday and ended lower on account of profit booking. From a gap-up opening of 190 points, the Sensex closed down 219 points or 1.1 per cent at provisional 18,908.98. The Nifty ended at provisional 5602, down 96 points or 1.68 per cent.

Among sectors, BSE Oil & Gas and Metals indices were down 2.29 per cent and 2.12 per cent, respectively. BSE Auto Index bucked the trend to close 1.05 per cent higher.

Second rung stocks lost steam as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices closed flat for second straight day. BSE Midcap Index closed down 0.07 per cent at 8,393 and BSE Small cap Index closed up 0.13 per cent at 10,385.

Top Sensex losers were Hindalco (down 4.10%), Tata Steel (3.82%), ACC (3.31%), Reliance Energy (3.16%), TCS (2.49%) and DLF (2.44%).

Maruti Suzuki (up 3.48%), Bajaj Auto (2.96%), BHEL (2.17%), Ambuja Cements (0.94%) and HDFC (0.19%) were the major gainers.

European markets were also trading weak. France’s CAC 40 was down 0.49 per cent, Germany’s DAX up 0.25 per cent at 7,549 and UK’s FTSE 100 was down 0.32 per cent at 6,116.