Late Selling Drags Markets into Red

Heavy selling in the wee hours of trade dragged the markets into red. The Sensex, after touching a high of 17,035 dropped 361 points from there to a low of 16,763. The index finally ended at 16,731 - down 108 points. The Nifty was down 37 points at 5,035. Broader markets underperformed with the BSE mid-cap index slipping 1.7% to 6,399. Small-cap index was down 2% to 7,459. On the global front the markets remained subdued ahead of the Eurozone crisis meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris. Asian markets reversed early gains. The Hang Seng dropped 0.2% to 20,212. Shanghai Composite was down 0.7%. However, Seoul Composite surged 5% in trades - its biggest gain in over two years. In Europe, CAC dropped 2% while DAX shed 2.4%. Inflation for the month of July eased to 9.22% in India. The market breadth is negative with 849 advances as against 1984 declines.