Markets End Deep in Red; Global Cues Played Major Role

The Indian markets witnessed turbulent ride throughout the day on the back of turmoil across the global market front. The Sensex gravitated in a range of more than 200 points before ending the session at 17,870, lower by 115 points and the Nifty shut shop at 5366, down 30 points. More importantly, the NSE benchmark ended below the 5400 mark, which is considered crucial from the technical and derivatives point of view. The midcap index ended at 6814, lower by 56 points and the small cap index ended at 8174, down 75 points. World stocks have touched three-month lows as Greece's 18-month sovereign debt crisis has brought its government to the brink of collapse; the austerity measures have resulted in pitched battles between the people and riot police. Athens is seeking to make budget cuts worth 28 billion euros over the next four years to meet the eligibility requirements for the release of the next tranche of aid – 12 billion euros - from the European Union and IMF. The market breadth was weak. Out of 3018 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 956 advancing stocks as against 1946 declines.