Markets End in Red Below the 16K mark

The markets slipped 2% in late trades as investors turned cautious and booked profits ahead of Ben Bernanke’s speech later in the day, heavy selling in realty and metal shares also weighed. The Nifty touched a high of 4,861 in the morning session, but gave up all the gains and closed at 4,747, down 92 points, and the Sensex plunged below 16K to end at 15,848, down 298 points. All the sectoral indices closed the day on a negative note. The main dragger today is the Realty index that closed the day declining by more than four percentage points. The other draggers are the Metal and Oil & Gas indices that declined by more than three percentage points. The broader markets too witnessed selling as both the small and mid cap indices by more than two percentage points. The market breadth is negative with 637 advances as against 2221 declines on BSE. On the global front, European stocks retreated for a second day as investors waited to see whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will signal further steps to support the economy. Asian shares and U.S. futures were little changed.