Markets Slips Below 17K To End in Red

Markets slipped almost two per cent, snapping three sessions of gains on mounting concerns of global growth. The Sensex closed at 16,867, down 299 points, and the Nifty ended at 5,060, down 94 points. Earlier in the day, the Nifty touched a high of 5,164 for a brief period, but gave up all the gains as $447 billion package by the United States President, Barack Obama failed to entice investors. Worries of slowing global growth accelerated as the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve steered clear from announcing any monetary support. Profit booking seeped in during the afternoon session after European indices plummeted. European markets snapped two sessions of gains on the back of losses in banking shares; FTSE, CAC and DAX were trading lower by one per cent each. Back in India, global uncertainties continued to weigh on the macro-data. The merchandise exports grew 44 per cent to $24.3 billion in August compared to same time last year, but the volumes declined 17 per cent versus the previous month due to global uncertainties. The markets will take cues from the Reserve Bank of India policy on September 16 and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke’s meeting at end of the month. From the broader markets, the midcap and the small cap indices fell almost 0.8% each. The market breadth was negative; 1,663 stocks declined for 1,292 advancing shares on the BSE.