Nifty stages smart recovery to end with modest losses

The benchmark Nifty closed with modest losses, after showing smart recovery in the last half an hour of trade, led by FMCG, auto, select telecom, healthcare and technology companies' shares. The Sensex recouped more than 150 points despite weak global cues and 3% fall in RIL.

However, the sell-off in oil & gas, realty, capital goods and metal companies' shares along with SBI, Reliance Communications, TCS, Jaiprakash Associates, Tata Power and IDFC capped the gains.

All the global markets were under pressure post 1.5% fall in the US markets on Monday. European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down 0.8-1%. The US index futures like Dow Jones and Nasdaq lost 0.3% each.

Asian markets like Shanghai, Hang Seng, Kospi and Taiwan fell 0.5-1.6%; Nikkei plunged 3.55% as Yen bounced back sharply post Japan's central bank disappointed markets. Japan central bank expanded its loan program for banks - will add another 10 trillion yen (USD 118 billion) in 6-month low interest loans to the 20 trillion yen program it had started in December and expanded in March.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,971.12, down 60.99 points or 0.34% and the Nifty fell 13.05 points or 0.24% to settle at 5,402.40, after seeing recovery of 151.13 points and 53.5 points from day's low, respectively.

For the month of August, the Sensex gained 0.58% or 102.83 points and the Nifty rose 0.65% or 34.8 points. For the year 2010, these indices went up 2.9% & 3.9%, respectively.