Markets Close on a Negative Note

Benchmarks ended in the negative territory for the second straight session as bears continued to hammer down stocks across the board. The worst hits were stocks from metals, power and realty space while IT sector ended marginally lower.  Sensex ended at 17592.77, down 182.93 points or 1.03 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 17508.35 and high of 17864.32 in today’s trade.  Nifty closed at 5274.50, down 38.05 points or 0.72 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 5225.65 and high of 5339.45 intraday. BSE Midcap Index was down 3.64 per cent and BSE Small cap Index fell 4.30 per cent. Amongst sectoral indices, BSE Power Index plunged 4.23per cent, BSE Metal Index was down 3.87 per cent and BSE Realty Index fell 3.81 per cent. BSE IT Index edged 0.33 per cent lower. European stocks swung between gains and losses after the Stoxx Europe 600 Index closed yesterday near its highest level since 2008. Asian shares and U.S. stock- index futures fell.