Mkts in bear grip, Sensex below 9500

New Delhi: It was a difficult session for the markets as it ended in deep red on account of heavy selling seen in scrips across sectors.

The BSE Sensex closed with a loss of over 330 points and the Nifty was down over 90 points.

CNX midcap was down 1.75 per cent while the BSE Small cap was down over 1.8 per cent at the closing trade. All the BSE sectoral indices closed in red.

The BSE metal index was the top loser as it tumbled down over five per cent.

Selling pressure was witnessed in heavyweight metal stocks like Sterlite Industries, Jindal Stainless steel, Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India Ltd.

The BSE Bankex was also down nearly three per cent. Only pharma index was trading in green.

Tata Steel, HDFC, Grasim, ICICI Bank and BPCL were the top loser on the indices.

About 871 shares advanced, 1,365 shares declined, and 47 shares remained unchanged.

Among the few gainers on the indices were Maruti, Dabur India, ABB, Dr Reddys and SBI. Heavy selling was witnessed in consumer durables, metal and auto segments’ stocks.

Heavyweights pull down:

• Hindustan Lever was trading at Rs 202.00 down 2.84 per cent from its previous close of Rs 207.90.
• Reliance was trading at Rs 897.05 down 2.72 per cent from its previous close of Rs 922.10.
• ITC was trading at Rs 156.25 down 2.65 per cent from its previous close of Rs 160.50.
• The BSE metal index was down 2.70 per cent at 7,290.81.
• The BSE FMCG and bank index also plunges over two per cent.
• The BSE oil and gas and auto indices tumbled 1.19 per cent and one per cent respectively.
• Index heavyweight Hindustan Lever was trading at Rs 201.40, down 3.13 per cent from its previous close of Rs 207.90.

The markets slipped into the negative terrain majorly on the back of heavy selling in scrips across sectors.

The new entry in the Sensex club, Reliance Communications, was down by Rs 11.90 at Rs 209.00. Meanwhile, the two new listings of Deccan Aviation and Unity Infra-projects opened below their offer prices.

Tata Steel, HDFC, Grasim, Reliance Energy, VSNL, GSK and Tata Motors were among the major losers on the indices.

Markets had opened on a positive note but slipped within an hour of the opening trade. The benchmark Sensex fell sharply on the Bombay Stock Exchange, on emergence of selling by funds in blue-chip scrips.

All the BSE sectoral indices were trading in red as heavy selling was witnessed in auto, metal and consumer durables stocks.