Sensex swamped by bad global cues

The Indian markets ended another tumultuous week down with the NSE Nifty closing below the 5450 mark. The mood got soured after a devastating earthquake hit northeast Japan that triggered a massive Tsunami and killed dozens of people. The latest bad news from the foreign shores added to the list of concerns that cast a pall of gloom over the markets this week.



First there was the political drama between the DMK and Congress; then came the string of downbeat economic reports from Japan to the US, and escalation of violence in Libya. In the process, the bulls chose to ignore the positive domestic economic data like the better than estimated IIP numbers, strong exports and sharp fall in food inflation.

Today’s fall was led by Metals, Telecom, IT, Power and Capital Goods stocks. Select Oil & Gas, FMCG and Pharma stocks managed to buck the negative trend. The BSE Mid-Cap and the BSE Small-Cap indices fell by about 1% each.

"Technically, on the daily charts, the NSE Nifty continues to trade below the 50 DMA. Whereas, on the weekly charts, the 50-share index has faced strong resistance at the 50 week moving average. Next week will be an important one as markets will react to monthly inflation data, RBI's mid-quarter policy review and the Fed meeting," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex lost 154 points to end at 18,174 and the NSE Nifty lost 49 points to close at 5,445.

The European markets were trading in the red, the FTSE index was down 0.8%, CAC index was down 1.1% and DAX index also was down 1.1%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big losers in the broader market were Sintex, Mphasis, LITL, Aurobindo Pharma and Voltas. On the other hand, gainers included DB Realty, Tata Global, Exide Ind and Engineers India.