Markets Close Below 18K Mark

The markets tumbled in late trades owing to heavy selling across the board. Almost all the sectoral indices closed the day in red. The only exception is the Oil & Gas index that closed the day in green gaining nearly half percentage points. The main draggers for the day are Realty and Banking indices declining more than two percentage points followed by the IT and Teck indices declining more than one and half percentage points. The Sensex closed the day in red declining 227.94 points or 1.25 percentage points to close at 17,998.41.  Nifty ends the day at 5408.70 declining 69.20 points or 1.26 percentage points. Market breadth was negative with 895 advances against 2,070 declines on BSE. On the global front, European stocks retreated, following U.S. shares lower, as investors awaited a report that may show the American economy slowed in the second quarter. Asian equities and U.S. index futures advanced.