Sensex slips under 20,500...Nifty below 6150

Market starting in the green for the second straight day, the Indian markets were unable to carry on the momentum through the day, with the NSE Nifty and the BSE Sensex ending with marginal losses.



Sustained weakness in the banking stocks offset gains in FMCG and Oil & Gas shares. Realty and Auto stocks were also down today.

Banking stocks were badly beaten down after being in momentum. Stocks like SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were among the major laggards.

Even the Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap stocks were under pressure while the market breadth was neutral.

"India was among the weakest performers today even as markets in Asia and Europe continued the good work of the recent days. Among the factors acting against India at the moment are high inflation, rising interest rates, expensive valuations, lack of reforms and governance issues. Also, the external account has deteriorated in the past couple of quarters, which could be among the sour points for global investors. In the coming days and weeks, investors will focus on earnings, economic reports and the RBI action, says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex slipped 62 points to close at 20,499 and the NSE Nifty slipped 11 points to close at 6,146.

HUL, RIL, ITC, Reliance Infra, Cipla, Jindal Steel, NTPC, Tata Power, Sterlite, Infosys, Wipro, Maruti Suzuki, Suzlon and Cairn India were among the notable leaders in the Sensex and Nifty.

ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, SBI, RCOM, HDFC Bank, TCS, DLF, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, M&M, BHEL, Hero Honda, Sesa Goa, BPCL, Siemens and Axis Bank were among the laggards in the Sensex and the Nifty.

Outside the two main indices, the key losers were Dewan Housing, Glodyne Tech, Shree Ashtavinayak, Karuturi Global, Bayer Crop, Prestige Estates, Consolid Constr, Uttam Galva, Allahabad Bank, Indusind Bank, ICICI Bank and Finolex Inds.

Bata India, Kwality Dairy, Peninsula Land, Kirloskar Bros, Areva T&D, UTV Software, Tech Mahindra, D B REALTY, Onmobile Global and Zydus Wellness were among the notable gainers in the broader market.

The market breadth on the BSE was neutral with 1,424 shares rising and 1,482 shares falling.