Markets Close Deep In Red

The markets frittered the advantage of a marginally positive opening and dashed hopes of a rebound following Monday's sedate closing to have another disappointing closing. Shedding around 400 points from its intra-day highs, the Sensex ended below the psychological 18k mark at 17776, weaker by 260 points, and the Nifty lost further ground below the 5400 mark at 5311, down 84 points. And the broader market space outperformed on the way down; the midcap index ended at 6537, weaker by 161 points or 2.4% and the smallcap index shut shop at 7995, down 265 points or 2.3%. The failure of the all-party meet convened by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to break the deadlock over the demand for a JPC probe into 2G spectrum issue seems to have dented the sentiment in the later part of trade. And two additional instances of suspect spectrum allocation only added to the prevalent nervousness. As per reports, the government is probing the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for a 2005 allocation of mobile internet spectrum without a proper bidding process that may have cost the exchequer up to Rs 2 trillion. The government is also reportedly investigating whether the state-run telecom company BSNL appointed franchises for broadband wireless access without charging any upfront payment. On the global front, the key benchmark indices in South Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore fell about half a percent each, while Japan's Nikkei index rose by a similar margin. The Chinese markets, which have been shut for the Lunar New Year holidays, will resume trading on Wednesday.