Markets Sheds 493 Points To Close Below the 20K Mark

Indian markets continued to fall for the fourth day on Friday. At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex declined 493 points or 2.44 per cent at 19,691.81 with 29 components registering drop. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty fell by 143.65 points or 2.38 per cent at 5,904.60 with 51 components posting drop. The BSE Mid and small caps underperformed their larger counterparts declining -2.65 per cent and -2.97 per cent respectively. Market breadth was negative with 619 advances against 2,397 declines. Europe’s economy expanded less than initially estimated in the third quarter as companies trimmed spending to weather the region’s worsening debt crisis. Gross domestic product in the euro region rose 0.3 per cent from the second quarter instead of 0.4 per cent reported on Dec. 2, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Investment was revised from being unchanged to a 0.3 per cent decline. A separate report showed the jobless rate held at 10.1 per cent in November when adjusted for seasonal swings, the highest in more than 12 years.