Nifty closes 55 pts lower on global cues; metal dips 2%

The benchmark Nifty closed sharply lower on negative global cues and shed more than 50 points to end below the 5250 level. The news of criminal probe into Goldman Sachs and 50 bps hike in reserve ratio from May 10 by China weighed on the global markets. Almost all sectors witnessed selling pressure.

Asian markets like Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi declined 1-1.4%. Nikkei, China and Thailand stocks markets were closed today. The US markets tumbled 1.4-2.6% on Friday post Goldman Sachs' news.

However, on the positive side, the Greece problem has been eased out a bit post government passing Greece aid package worth nearly USD 160 billion over three years. Greece promised to slash its budget deficit to 3% of GDP by 2014 from 13.6% last year. European markets were down 0.4-0.8%, at the time of closing of Indian equities.

Dilip Bhat, Joint MD of Prabhudas Lilladher also said the markets seemed to be trapped in a very narrow range. But he said in any case 5,600-5,700 should be on the upper side by the end of December, he says.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,386.08, down 172.63 points or 0.98% and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 55.25 points or 1.05% to settle at 5222.75. The broader indices declined over 0.4%.

Metal sector fell the most today, the respective index lost 2%. Sterlite Industries, Hindalco, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel were down 1.7-3% while SAIL was flat.