Markets End in Red

The markets close in the red to extend the seven day losses with the Sensex down 74 points at 18,460 while the Nifty shed 27 points to close at 5,537. Auto, Telecom, IT and Metals stocks were among the major laggards.  On the other hand, Oil & Gas, PSU and Consumer Durables stocks bucked the negative trend. Even the Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap stocks were under pressure. Market breadth was negative with 1,121 advances against 1,722 declines. The decline may be treated as the aftermath of the steps taken by RBI yesterday to tame the rising inflation. This was the reason why the interest sensitive sectors took a beating at the streets. But as the day approached towards the end the investors did some bottom fishing to recover the market a bit.