Sensex ends over 100 points down; cap goods, metals, auto dip

The selling in almost all the sectors hammered the Sensex. It lost over 100 points in the last half an hour of trade. Capital goods, metal, auto and realty stocks were the major losers. The Nifty also touched 4950 during the day but managed to close above that level.

Among the largecaps, Reliance Industries, TCS, NTPC, Wipro, Cairn, ICICI Bank and Idea Cellular were the only gainers. Overall, the markets witnessed consolidation in today's trade as well.

Laurence Balanco, Asian Technical Research at CLSA said, "As long as we can consolidate between this 4400 and 5200 area, I still think that would be a positive foundation that is formed for the break to the upside."

He feels that the real area of supply is 5100-5200 area. That continues to be resistance zone. "If one sees that area giving way, a break above that would give you an upside target around 5500 area. Our key support is still all the way back around the 4400 area."

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 16,601.20, down 118.63 points or 0.71%, after seeing an intraday range of 16,577.78-16,750.99. The 50-share NSE Nifty fell 0.7% or 35.10 points, to settle at 4,952.60, after hitting an intraday low of 4,943.95.

Technical Analyst at JM Financial, Gautam Shah said stocks were now biased towards the downside. He added that the National Stock Exchange's benchmark, the 50-share Nifty, would have critical support at 4,930 and if that level were to break, the Nifty could go down all the way to 4,700. ''The markets could correct 5–10% from current levels,'' he said.