CLOSING BELL ; SENSEX DIPS

A 2:45 pm; Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was at 19017.97, down 274.05 points or 1.42 per cent. The 30-share index hit a high of 19356.50 and low of 19017.97 intraday. 

National Stock Exchange's Nifty was at 5711.50, down 73.95 points or 1.28 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 5804.30 and low of 5711 in trade so far. 

The 50-share NSE Nifty slipped below 5750 level, to trade at 5,716, down 69 points. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 239 points to 19,052

However, Sun Pharma was the biggest gainer, with rising nearly 4%. HUL, Maruti, Siemens, Ambuja Cements and HCL Tech were up 1-2%. Heavyweights Reliance Industries, Wipro and BHEL were marginally in the green.

STOCK MARKET TODAY

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex ended the session down by over 40 points today due to heavy selling in oil & gas, realty and banking sector stocks amid a mixed trend in the Asian markets.

At 3.30 p.m., the Sensex was down 42.03 points at 19,560.20 and the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty down 19.3 points at 5,865.40.

Volume toppers during the session were Infosys, SBI, RIL, TCS and Sterlite Industries. Major Sensex losers were RIL, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ONGC, DLF and Bharti Airtel. Sterlite Industries, Infosys and SBI were the major gainers.

Among the sectoral indices, consumer durables was up 1.00 per cent, IT 0.78 per cent, teck 0.5 per cent and capital goods 0.39 per cent. Oil & gas was down 1.72 per cent, realty 1.22 per cent and bankex 0.015per cent. Of the total 2,994 stocks traded, 1,349 advanced, 1,549 declined and 96 remained unchanged.

The Sensex, which gained over 511 points in the previous session, fell by 70.89 points or 0.36 per cent to 19,531.34 in the first few minutes of trade today, led by a fall in oil and gas, metal and power sector stocks.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty slid by 27.7 points or 0.47 per cent, to 5,857 points.