Sensex ends 78 points down ahead of expiry; L&T slips 3%

Indian equity benchmarks fell 0.5% on the back of profit booking on Wednesday after posting nearly 3% rally on short covering yesterday. Overall it was a consolidation day for the market ahead of expiry tomorrow. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 78.01 points to close at 16,446.02 and the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 25.35 points to end at 4,945.90.

Till German voting results come in, Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities says, the market should stay in a tight range of around 4850 to somewhere around 5005 levels. European parliament will hold a crucial vote tomorrow on July's EU agreement to extend the scope of the existing fund.

Eurpoean markets too were choppy after sell-off in early trade. Investors have been waiting for the bailout plan but the report said that the euro zone was divided over terms of Greece's second bailout.

Bruno Verstrate, chief executive officer of Nautilus Invest said that the markets were up yesterday on the news that was based on false rumors. ''The politicians are still arguing amongst each other on how to handle the Greek debt crisis and how to find a universal solution to not only Greece but to the other countries as well,'' explained Verstrate.

On the home turf, capital goods, banking, telecom, metal, auto and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's stocks witnessed selling pressure. However, buying in realty, select technology and healthcare stocks has limited the upside.

Heavyweights Bharti Airtel, L&T, ICICI Bank, SBI and HUL fell 1-3%. ADAG stocks like Reliance Communications, Reliance Power, Reliance Capital and Reliance Infrastucture slipped 3-6.5%.