Markets end with heavy losses: Realty, metal worst hit

07 February 2008

It was yet another disappointing day for the markets which traded on sluggish note in the first half today but cracked sharply in the late trade on the back of heavy selling witnessed across the sectors led by oil & gas, metal, realty and IT. Midcaps and smallcaps outperformed the frontline counters in early trade but could not maintain the gains and slipped sharply in late trade dragging the markets down. Finally Sensex and Nifty settled down deep in red.

On the volume front also, it was quite sluggish as it remained lowest this week. Market breadth was also negative. All the key BSE indices ended in red with significant cuts.

Sensex  ended down 612.56 points or 3.38% at 17526.93, and the Nifty closed down 189.30 points or 3.56% at 5133.25. On BSE, about 879 shares advanced, 2077 shares declined, and 54 shares unchanged. BSE midcap ended down 2.38% at 7781.40 and Smallcap closed down 1.98% at 10206.57.

BSE auto index ended down 2.24% at 4790.36. In the auto space, top losers were Hind Motors, Exide Industries, maruti Suzuki.

BSE Bankex closed down 2.57% at 4880.35. Centurion bank, Axis bank and PNB were the top losers.

BSE capital good index ended down 2.6% at 16140.97. Crompton Greaves, Bharat Electric, LMW were top losers.