The markets ended near the lowest point of the day after trading flat for major part of the day. Bank, auto and IT stocks were among the major losers. Among the frontliners Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Jet Airways, WIpro were the top losers.

Sensex closed down 161.61 points or 1.22% at 13124.32, and the Nifty down 41.10 points or 1.06% at 3819.95.

About 810 shares have advanced, 1721 shares declined, and 65 shares are unchanged.

The BSE Small Cap Index closed at 6,425.74 down 31 points or 0.48%.

The BSE Midcap Index ended at 5,376.72 down 24.6 points or 0.46%.

The BSE FMCG Index wad down 0.5% at 1,680.47.  Shaw Wallace, Nirma,  Dabur India, ITC, Tata Tea
closed in red.

The BSE Metal Index was down 0.1% to close at 8,445.81.  NALCO, Hindalco, JindalStainless, SAIL, Jindal Saw
were among the losers.

The BSE Bankex was down 2% at 6,687.22.  Union Bank, Centurion BoP, HDFC Bank,  Andhra Bank, UTI Bank, IOB moved downwards.

The BSE Health Care Index ended lower by 0.5% at 3,557.68.  Sterling Bio, Wockhardt, Aventis Pharma, Sun Pharma, Cipla,  Lupin closed lower.

The BSE Capital Goods Index was down 1% at 9,038.49. Gammon India, Alstom Projects, Crompton Greave, Dredging Cor,  KEC Infrastruct ended lower

The BSE Auto Index closed at 4,950.03 down 1.8%. Tata Motors, Sundram,  Maruti Udyog, Apollo Tyres, Asahi India were among the losers.

The BSE IT Index closed at 5,009.42 down 1.2%.  Mphasis, Wipro, TCS,  Infosys, Patni Computer ended weak.

The BSE Oil and Gas Index closed at 6,412.60 down 0.34%. Reliance, Petronet LNG, MRPL, Reliance Natural ended in red.

The NSE cash turnover was at Rs 6745.98 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 34451.77 crore. The BSE cash turnover was Rs 3198.68 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs 44396.43 crore.

Markets Today:

• Markets end in the red; selling in banking & auto stocks
• Sensex down 1.22% or 161 points at 13124; Nifty down 1.06% or 41 points at 3819.95
• BSE Bank Index down 1.98%; HDFC Bank down 3.75%, ICICI Bank down 1.78%
• BSE Auto Index down 1.78% on selling in four wheeler stocks; Tata Motors down 4.7%, Maruti down 2.25%
• Index Losers; Dabur India down 2.68%, Wipro down 2.61%, Jet Airways down 2.55%
• CNX Midcap Index down 0.26%; realty stocks lose
• Indiabulls Real Estate down 8.7%, Unitech down 5%
• BSE Small-cap Index down 0.48%; but sugar stocks gain
• Ponni Sugar up 11%, Dharani Sugar up 9.27%, Shree Renuka Sugar up 8.43%
• Recent Re-listings: Nahar Exports down 20%, Nahar Spinning down 17.78%
• New Listing: Sparsh BPO closes at Rs 152.4 Vs listing price at Rs 104.75 (Base Price Rs 130.90)
• NSE Advance Decline ratio at 2:5
• Total market turnover at Rs 44396.43 cr Vs Rs 45804.21 cr on Friday

Markets trade weak: Auto, bank stocks drag

The markets are trading weak and continue to languish below the flat line.

Market trades lower: Autos, cap goods, banks drag

The markets have further lost ground and continue to trade in red. Selling pressure is seen in auto, capital goods and bank stocks.

At 13.02 pm IST, the Sensex is down 92.63 points or 0.70% at 13193.3, and the Nifty down 15.95 points or 0.41% at 3845.1.

About 905 shares have advanced, 1453 shares declined, and 65 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, HDFC, L&T are among the top losers.

Index heavyweight Hindustan Lever was trading at Rs 196.70 down 0.83% from its previous close of Rs 198.35.

Index heavyweight Reliance was trading at Rs 1,376.45 down 0.2% from its previous close of Rs 1,379.20.

Tech major Infosys was trading at Rs 2,065.00 down 1.51% from its previous close of Rs 2,096.70.

Cigarette major ITC was trading at Rs 143.80 down 0.28% from its previous close of Rs 144.20.

Refinery major HPCL was trading at Rs 265.10 up 1.49% from its previous close of Rs 261.20.

Markets in red: Auto, banking & capital gds stocks losers

Market are still trading in the red as auto, banking, capital goods and FMCG stocks have been under selling pressure.

At 11:48 am, the Sensex was down 55 points at 13,229 and Nifty down 6 points at 3,854.

Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, L&T, HDFC and Dabur were the top losers while gainers were Satyam, Tata Steel, ACC, Grasim, MTNL, PNB and IPCL.

Market breadth turned negative, bout 949 shares have advanced, 1175 shares declined, and 70 shares are unchanged.

The BSE Small Cap and Midcap indices gained marginally.

The BSE Auto Index lost 1% as Tata Motors, Maurti Udyog, Bajaj Auto, M&M and TVS Motor slipped.

The BSE Bankex, Capital Goods, FMCG and IT indices fell 0.40%, 0.92%, 0.20% and 0.17%, respectively.

However, the BSE Healthcare, Metal and Oil indices were up 0.35%, 0.32% and 0.10%, respectively.

Index heavyweight Hindustan Lever was trading at Rs 197.70 down 0.33% from its previous close of Rs 198.35.

Index heavyweight Reliance was trading at Rs 1,380.00 up 0.06% from its previous close of Rs 1,379.20.

Tech major Infosys was trading at Rs 2,084.90 down 0.56% from its previous close of Rs 2,096.70.

Cigarette major ITC was trading at Rs 143.55 down 0.45% from its previous close of Rs 144.20.

Refinery major HPCL was trading at Rs 262.25 up 0.4% from its previous close of Rs 261.20.

Mkts witness volatile trade; Tata Motors, HDFC Bk down 2%

Markets are witnessing volatile trade. Auto and capital goods stocks slipped while banking, FMCG and pharma stocks gained.

At 10:51 am, the Sensex was down 38 points at 13,247 and the Nifty down 0.40 point at 3,860.

Market breadth was almost mixed; about 896 shares have advanced, 798 shares declined, and 53 shares are unchanged.

Top loseres on the bourses were Tata Motors (-2.32%), HDFC (-1.53%), BHEL (-1.43%), HDFC Bank (-1.36%) and Suzlon Energy (-1.65%).

ONGC (1.39%), Grasim (1.03%), Satyam (0.98%), ICICI Bank (0.94%), Jet Airways (1.77%), PNB (1.48%) and ONGC (1.29%).

The BSE Auto and Capital indices fell 0.41% and 0.95%, respectively.

However, the BSE bankex, FMCG, Healthcare, Metal and IT indices rose 0.33%, 0.15%, 0.52%, 0.41% and 0.26%, respectively.

Block Deal: 48.8 lakh Yes Bank shares have changed hands on NSE at Rs 151.25/sh.

Sparsh BPO Services has listed at Rs 104.75 against base price of Rs 130.90.

Markets open in green: Cement & sugar stocks gain

Markets have opened first day with good buying interest in telecom, banking, sugar and cement stocks.

At 9:56 am, the Sensex was up 44 points at 13,330 and the Nifty up 12 points at 3,873.

Gainers in the morning trade were Reliance, ONGC, ICICI Bank, ITC, Rel Comm, ACC, Tata Steel, SBI, HLL and Guj Amb Cements.

However, HDFC Bank and Wipro lost ground.

Cement (ACC, India Cements, Gujarat Ambuja Cements etc) stocks surged with concrete gain.

Bajaj Hindustan, Balrampur Chini etc were also witnessing buying interest.

All BSE indices were trading in the green. The BSE Bankex and FMCG gained over 0.5%.

Asian stocks rose in early trading today as Japanese investors responded to unexpectedly good news about the US housing market, according to media reports. Japan's Nikkei was down 0.05% or 8.05 points at 17,472.56. However, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted gained 0.31% or 24.20 points at 7,883.52. Hong Kong's Heng Seng rose 0.35% or 68.50 points at 19,761.14. Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.11% or 3.57 points at 3,209.39. South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 0.14% or 2.06 points at 1,449.44.

US Stocks closed mostly higher on Friday, The Dow Jones rose 19.87 points, or 0.16%, to 12,481.01.

Market cues

• FIIs net buy USD 160.90 million in equity on Mar 22
• MFs net buy Rs 87 crore (Rs 870 million) in equity on Mar 22
• NSE F&O Open Interest up by Rs 297 crore (Rs 2.97 billion) at Rs 58,737 crore (Rs 587.37 billion)