Market ends deep in red

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex pared early gains and lost over 352 points at close as fears of a hike in retail fuel prices triggered aggressive selling in stocks, mainly in refinery and metal segments.

The 30-share Sensex on BSE, which gained nearly 217 points in opening session, fell back sharply to close 352.39 points lower at 16,063.18.

The BSE barometer even dipped below 16,000 points level at 15,991.21 as market players turned active sellers.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 130.50 points at 4,739.60. It touched the day's high of 4,908.50 points. The Nifty touched the day's high of 4,908.80 and a low of 4,713.00 points.

Marketmen said selling pressure emerged on reports of the government planning to hike petrol and diesel prices in line with the rising crude oil prices in the global markets.

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Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for wider political consensus on fuel price hike. However, a source said there was no unanimity in thinking within the government and that a decision on the issue may not be taken before wednesday.

Metal segment suffered the most as metal index plunged 619.37 points at 16,295.26, followed by capital goods index by 341.89 points at 12,808.75.

Realty index dropped by 280.53 points at 6,728.13, PSU index by 271.83 points at 6,807.83 and bank index by 260.26 points at 7,454.33.

Refinery stocks led by Reliance Industries dropped sharply by 190.14 points at 10,206.71, power index by 107.50 points at 2,828.74, IT index by 63.44 points at 4,350.42, teck index by 53.63 points at 3,561.57 and healthcare index by 45.57 points at 4,350.42.

However, auto index managed to hold a moderate gain of 2.45 points at 4,358.21.