Sensex closes 101 points down; RIL, Suzlon slip 3.4 per cent

After seeing 2.4% rally in the last two days, the benchmark Sensex witnessed profit booking today. The index closed over 100 points lower while the Nifty slipped below the 4900 mark. Heavyweight Reliance Industries was the main culprit behind this fall; the stock shut shop below the Rs 1000 level, down 3.35%.

Selling was also seen in metal, cement, capital goods, private power, realty and select technology companies' shares. However, buying in biggies like NTPC, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, HDFC and HUL capped the losses to some extent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 16,327.84, down 101.07 points or 0.62% and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 0.53% or 26.25 points to settle at 4,887.75. The broader indices were down 0.4-0.6%.

This profit booking was in-line with Asian peers. Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi declined 0.4-0.9% while Nikkei gained 0.3%. Shanghai and Taiwan markets were shut today. European markets were marginally in the green, at the time of closing of Indian equities.

Metal stocks were the losers throughout the session post fall in the CRB index; Sterlite Industries and Jindal Steel declined over 2.2%. Tata Steel was down 1.2% while SAIL and Hindalco were flat.

Unitech from the realty space saw huge selling pressure, down 4.7%. DLF slipped 0.7%. Suzlon Energy and Reliance Infrastructure from the power pack lost 3.4% and 2.26%, respectively. Reliance Power and Tata Power fell 0.6-0.75% while NTPC gained 1.64% and Power Grid was up 1%.