Markets Witness Choppy Session to Close in Red

Markets ended a choppy session in the red on back of selling pressure in banking and realty stocks. Banking and realty indices shared the most of the burns as banking index closed the day declining more than two and half percentage points while Realty indices closed the day declining nearly one percentage points. The Sensex closed the day in red declining 46.67 points or 0.23 percentage points to close at 19,934.64. Nifty ends the day at 5976.55 declining 15.70 points or 0.26 percentage points. Market breadth was negative with 882 advances against 2,029 declines on BSE. On the global front, European and U.S. stock-index futures advanced after President Barack Obama agreed to extend tax cuts, offsetting concern that Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis will spread further. Asian shares were little changed. Unilever may climb after Morgan Stanley recommended the shares of the world’s second-largest consumer-goods maker. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group advanced in Sydney. BP Plc may move as the company is said to assess the sale of some North Sea assets.