Markets End in Red

Markets ended an event-filled day in the red led by losses in banking and realty shares ahead of mid-term policy review tomorrow. Sagging Asian markets on back of Tankan Survey and Hong Kong markets extending fall weighed on the investor sentiment. The Sensex notched marginal gains in the morning session to 19,818 on upbeat Manganese Ore India Ltd (MOIL) debut, up 47 per cent, advance tax numbers and petrol price hike. However, weakness in the Asian markets and fuel inflation concerns seeped in, dragging the benchmark down to 19,571. The Sensex finally ended at 19,647 - down 151 points. Nifty closed at 5,892 - down 52 points. In the world markets, the Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.5 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost almost 2 per cent due to heavy losses in Airline shares led by Cathay Pacific, Taiwan's main index fell 0.2 per cent, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was flat, and South  Korea's Seoul Composite was down 0.4 per cent.