Nifty ends below 200 DMA on panic sell-off

The stock markets witnessed intense sell-off in mid-afternoon trade as global stocks tanked after Germany's move to ban some naked shorting. The Asian markets lost nearly 1-2% and European markets  shed anywhere from 2% to 3%. The Dow Futures was also down close to 1%.

The European debt woes has created negative sentiment among the investors and traders across the globe. The Nifty broke its 200 simple day moving average of 4,982 decisivley and closed below the level for the first time in the entire bull run, which started in March 2009.

The Sensex was down 467.27 points or 2.77% at 16408.49, and the Nifty down 146.55 points or 2.89% at 4919.65. The market breath was also weak. About 712 shares advanced, 2,254 shares declined, and 321 shares remained unchanged.

Metal stocks witnessed biggest sell-off in the trade. The BSE Metal Index was down close to 4%. Rate sensitive indexes of realty, banks and auto also lost more than 3%. FMCG, telecom, pharma and oil & gas stocks also shed 2%. All BSE sectoral indices ended in red with minimum loss of 1%.

Heavyweights like Tata Motors, Sterlite Industries, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Unitech lost in the range of 5.5-7.5%. Hero Honda, Cipla, ABB and Tata Power ended in the green.

Index heavyweight Reliance ended below Rs 1000 at Rs 998.30 down 2.19% from its previous close of Rs 1,020.70. Cigarette major ITC closed at Rs 259.20 down 3.48% from its previous close of Rs 268.55.