Markets Take Breather To End in Red

The markets took a breather after the stupendous gains of the past fortnight that catapulted the Sensex past the 20k mark in the previous session. Capping an uncharacteristically volatile day of trade, the Sensex swung in a range of around 300 points before surrendering the 20k pedestal. The main draggers for the day are the Realty, IT and Teck indices closing the day declining more than one percentage points. The main gainers for today’s session are the Consumer Durables and Banking indices. The Sensex closed the day in red declining 59.83 points or 0.30 percentage points to close at 19,941.72.  Nifty ends the day at 5991 declining 18.05 points or 0.30 percentage points. Market breadth was negative with 1,113 advances against 1,822 declines on BSE. On the global front, European stocks retreated for a second day, led by declines in Banco Santander SA and Daimler AG, amid concern that central banks will have to act to shore up flagging growth. Asian shares climbed and U.S. futures fell.