Sensex sinks 277 points on global weakness

The Indian markets ended nearly 2% down on the first day of the week due to weak global cues. The Sensex declined 277 points and the Nifty ended 90 points lower. Major Headlines: SBI revision in retail term deposit interest rates DLF drops on Sensex exclusion Telecom stocks plunge on TRAI regulations Indian Indices Indian equity benchmarks fell strongly during the afternoon session, tracking losses in other Asian markets and weakness across the European markets. The BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty dipped nearly 2% each. The broader indices markets were also in red, leading to a weak market breadth. Even the US stock futures are pointing to a fall on the Wall Street. Profit booking led the markets to close the session lower. Major heavyweight draggers were - Infy, ICICI Bank, SBI, L&T, Bharti AirTel, TCS and Tata Motors. All-round selling across the board also led the markets to trade with heavy losses. All the sectors closed in the red zone. The Sensex fell below the 17100 and the Nifty touched 5200 mark. On the Currency front, Indian rupee was trading at 52.49 to the dollar, down by 42 paise. It touched an intraday low of 52.55 a dollar. Tracking today's stock specific action, Infosys fell as the company is under scrutiny of the US Department of Homeland Security for the errors in employer eligibility documents for its staff working in the United States, the company said this in a statement. Joining the rally, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) declined by 3% ahead of its quarterly earnings today evening. State Bank of India, the country's biggest lender, may not cut lending rates in the near term as costs of deposits continue to be high, Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri stated, after the bank lowered its deposit rates. State Bank of India (SBI), fell down by 3% to closed at 2192.10. Also the Telecom stocks slipped, on reports of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) recommendations on auctioning the spectrum will be negative for telecom firms. Looking towards sectors: Realty index was the top loser, down 3% with DLF pacing the decline after the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) said that pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories will replace DLF in the benchmark 30-share Sensex with effect from June 11, 2012. The Sensex closed at 17097, down by 277 points and the Nifty fell 90 points to close at 5201. Market sentiment The market breadth stood in favour of declines. Of the 2895 stocks traded on the BSE, 990 (34.20%) rose, 1800 (62.18%) fell and 105 (3.63%) stocks remained unchanged. Viewing volumes An integrated infrastructure development company - Lanco Infratech was traded the most, with over 0.54 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that a real estate development company - HDIL (0.37 crore shares), wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.30 crore shares), Industrial finance company - IFCI (0.25 crore shares) and a major Indian telecommunication company - Reliance Communications (0.25 crore shares). Sectoral & stock screening All the 13 sectors closed in red. The topmost losers were BSE Realty which fell 3.17%, BSE TECk fell 3.02% and BSE IT fell 2.94%. Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were - Asian Paints which rose 3.67%, Max India jumped 1.88% and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals gained 1.62%. Top three losers were - United Spirits which fell 8.87%, Lanco Infratech dropped 8.70% and Indiabulls Real Estate declined 5.59%. Global Indices: European shares fell on Monday (April 23, 2012), as potential political turmoil in France and the Netherlands coupled with downbeat global economic data prompted investors to secure recent gains, with banks and basic resource stocks leading the fallers. Asian stock markets were mostly lower on Monday after a report showed manufacturing data in China failed to dispel concerns of weakness in Asia's largest economy. The US stock index futures pointed to a lower opening on the Wall Street on Monday.