Markets End on a Negative Note

Putting an end to a volatile session, the Sensex finally closed the day in the red. The key benchmark index, Sensex lost 62 points to end at 20,498 and the Nifty shed 11 points at 6,146. In the broader markets, the midcaps shed 0.2 per cent and the small cap ended flat at 9,841. In comparison, the Sensex underperformed the broader markets at 0.3 per cent in the negative. The markets had earlier opened in the green but quickly pared its gains to slip into the red due to the slump in the banking stocks. Moving ahead the Sensex almost recovered only to slip to touch a low of 20,449. Later, in the afternoon trades, the Sensex finally broke into the green as RIL inched ahead and Infosys registered a new all time high. However, in the last of the trading, the benchmark index lost its steam. On the other hand, the Asian markets opened higher for the day on the back of encouraging US data suggesting a recovery in the world's biggest economy. Finally, at the close Taiwan Weighted was the only index to close in the red, shedding 0.3 per cent. Meanwhile, Shanghai Composite, KLSE Composite and Nikkei gained 1 per cent each followed by Jakarta Composite, Straits Times and Seoul Composite gaining 0.6 per cent - 0.7 per cent. On the European front, the markets had a mixed opening. FTSE  gained 1.5 per cent while CAC and DAX are trading flat.