Sensex ends 109 points down; midcaps battered out of shape

Forget where the benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex closed today; they won't tell you anything about the carnage witnessed in mid and small cap stocks. 

Broader indices took huge beating as compared to benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices losing around 2%, led by fund based selling in infrastructure stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 108.69 points, to close at 16,730.94 and the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 37.15 points, to end at 5,035.80.

Indian equities were looking for some recovery following positive US cues in the morning trade with the Sensex beginning above the 17,000 mark but this was cut short in the between. Benchmarks shaved off all their early gains in the last couple of hours of trade - especially after European markets' opening.

France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down 1-2% ahead of meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel today for some solution to control European debt crisis. Experts feel that introduction of euro bonds may be on their cards. Even Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures fell close to 1%, which is pointing negative opening for the US markets.

Back home, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's stocks, metal, infrastructure, realty, private financial and select PSU companies' shares saw selling pressure.