The BSE Sensex slipped 70 points at 16,740 after touching a high of 17,938 and a low of 16,706. The index opened at 16,808 against the previous close of 16,810. The NSE Nifty was down 26 points to shut shop at 4,970.
In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan was up 0.8%, while Australia's S&P/ASX ended lower by 0.6% at 4,830. Shanghai SE Composite ended flat and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was closed on account of holiday.
In Europe, stocks were in the positive terrain. The FTSE in the UK was up 0.5%, The DAX in Germany was up 0.9% and the CAC 40 index in France was up 0.7%.
Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the Realty index was the top loser, shedding 4.5%, followed by the Consumer Durables index that was down 2.3% and the BSE Bankex index was down 1.7%.
Among the major gainers were, BSE FMCG index was up 0.9% and BSE Pharma index up 0.9%.
The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.8% and the BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.3%.
Among the 30-components of Sensex, 16 stocks ended in the red and 14 ended in the positive terrain. DLF, JP Associates, Hindalco, RCom, Reliance Infra and SBI were among the major losers.
On the other hand, among the major gainers were Tata Motors, Tata Steel, ITC and HDFC.
Outside the frontline indices, the big losers in the broader market were Punj Lloyd, Aban Offshore, Indian Bank, Union Bank and PTC. On the other hand, gainers included Zee Ent, Oracle Fin, Balrampur Chini and IDBI Bank.
