Sensex ends volatile session lower

The Sensex ended on a lower note weighed by oil & gas, consumer durables and capital goods, while realty, metal and IT gained. It opened with a gain of 88.79 points, at 17,414.80 on Tuesday tracking positive global cues. It continued to trade in the green on account of buying interest seen in frontliners. Later the index traded in a lacklustre manner and in the second half of the day, it slipped into the negative zone as profit booking set in. Even opening of negative European markets further dragged the index down to finally close the volatile session on a negative note, after touching a low of 17,185.04.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index rose 0.06% and 0.15% respectively.

European stocks retreated from a 12- month high after Qatar said it would sell a stake in Barclays and Autonomy Corp. reported earnings at the lower end of its forecasts. UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 fell 12.17 points, or 0.23%, to trade at 5,269.55. French benchmark index CAC 40 decreased 7.89 points, or 0.20%, to trade 3,884.10. Germany`s benchmark index DAX lost 8.22 points, or 0.10%, to trade at 5,846.80 (4.30 p.m.)

The Sensex ended the day with a loss of 103 points, or 0.59% at 17,223.01 after touching a high of 17,457.26 and a low of 17,185.04. The broad-based NSE Nifty fell 27.35 points, or 0.53% at 5,114.45 after hitting a high of 5,181.95 and a low of 5,102.65.

Major gainers in the 30-share index were Hindalco Industries (4.74%), Tata Consultancy Services (2.09%), Tata Steel (2.09%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.04%), Wipro (1.88%), and Maruti Suzuki India (1.65%).

On the other hand, Mahindra & Mahindra (3%), Reliance Communications (2.85%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (2.48%), Reliance Industries (1.84%), Grasim Industries (1.82%), and Hindustan Unilever (1.75%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Overall market breadth was negative. Out of the total 2,844 stocks traded at BSE, 1,322 advanced, 1,471 declined while 51 remained unchanged.

On sectoral front, BSE Realty which gained 0.90%, Metal rose 0.81%, IT gained 0.34%, Auto gained 0.20%, while BSE Oil & Gas fell 1.7%, Consumer Durables dropped 1.5%, Capital Goods lost 1.21%.