Sensex sinks on global pain...Nifty ends below 5400

After managing a smart pull back in the previous trading session, the Indian market was greeted with a fresh bout of selling pressure on Monday with heavy offloading seen in index heavyweights like BHEL, ICICI Bank, SBI, L&T, RIL, Tata Motors and Tata Steel. So, the last week of the month started off on a negative note as investors mull their strategy for the upcoming derivative settlement.

The key indices opened with a gap down and remained under pressure throughout the trading session amid lingering worries over the precarious fiscal conditions of Greece and other peripheral eurozone nations. Selling was not restricted to India alone.



All Asian markets witnessed deep cuts, with the Chinese market down nearly 3%. The Nikkei index in Japan was down 1.5% while the Hang Seng index fell 2%. The pain spread to Europe later with the region's indices extending Friday's selloff.

Barring FMCG and to a certain extent Consumer Durables index all the other BSE sectoral indices ended with a negative bias. The BSE Capital Goods index was the top loser, down 3%. The BSE Power index was down 3% and the BSE Banking index dropped 3%.

Technically, 5340 will act as a near term support while on the upside 5520 could push the Nifty towards 5600. The onset of monsoon will be another key event to keep an eye on.

"The trigger for today's sharp selloff was lingering concerns over the deepening eurozone sovereign debt problems. The Chinese stocks slumped after a preliminary manufacturing PMI showed further slowdown in May. The Indian market got trapped in the worldwide selling of risky assets and the general flight-to-safety trend. Results from BHEL failed to enthuse investors but Gail managed to recover from intraday lows. ITC bounced back after Friday's drop. Going forward, the Indian market will take its cue from the upcoming earnings, F&O expiry, fund flows and of course the overseas markets. One must remain vigilant and avoid taking undue risks at this juncture as the near-term outlook remains cloudy," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex ended at 17,993, down 333 points or 1.8% over the last close. It had opened at a day's high of 18,269 and touched a day's low of 17,971. The NSE Nifty closed at 5,386, losing 100 points or 1.8%. It also opened at day's high at 5,456 and hit a day's low of 5,373.

ITC, Ambuja, Siemens were among the notable leaders in the BSE Sensex and Nifty.

BHEL, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Tata Motors, L&T, SBI, Sterlite Inds, ONGC, HDFC Bank, ONGC, Jindal Steel, Bajaj Auto, HUL, Dr Reddy were among the notable losers in the BSE Sensex and Nifty.

Outside the main indices, the top losers and top gainers in the BSE 500 are Aurobindo Pharma, DB Realty PTC India, BHEL, Everonn, VIP Inds, KGN Inds, MVL, Arvind, Shree Cement, Persistent Systems, Bajaj Electricals.