Markets End in Green

Markets ended in the green, coming off the day's high on mixed news flow. Metal stocks dragged the markets off the day's high in morning trades. Asian markets remained in the positive zone following US President Barack Obama's announcement of debt-limit deal. The Sensex touched a high of 18,440 but started to slip in mid-morning trades. The index touched a low of 18,219. However, buying in IT and auto sectors helped the index to finally end at 18,314 - up 117 points. Nifty ended up 35 points at 5,517. India's GDP growth will slow down to 8.2% in the current fiscal and the inflation rate is expected to remain high at 9% till October, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council reported. The report further said that the global economic and financial situation was unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future and this could impact the domestic economy. Market heavyweight, Reliance, ended flat at Rs 832 after Friday's fall. On Friday, the stock had touched its 52-week low of Rs 824. This follows the company's less-than-expected growth in Q1 net profit.  BSE market breadth was fairly negative. Out of 2,975 stocks traded, 1,632 stocks declined while 1,204 advanced in trades.