Sensex closes 371 pts lower; capital goods cracks 5.5%

It was a bad start to the week on Monday with Sensex falling nearly 400 points to close way below its psychological 17000-mark. Weighed down by banks, capital goods and metals sectors; index heavyweights Reliance and Bharti too added pressure on the market.

The BSE benchmark fell 370.68 points or 2.15%, to close at 16,863.30, witnessing a biggest fall since December 8, 2011. The NSE benchmark too ended below the 5100 mark, which dropped 117.40 points or 2.26% to 5,087.30.

Reasons behind today's sell-off were weak global cues ahead of European Union Summit and profit booking after stellar performance in the last four weeks, rising 1500 points on the Sensex.

Louise Cooper of BGC Partners expects no fireworks from the summit. European markets fell 0.5-1%; Dow Jones futures lost 67 points.

Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com says, it's a pull back and not a reversal of downturn.

According to Sandeep Singal, Co-head Institution Equities at Emkay, the Nifty should see pullback to 4950.