Markets Witness Selling Pressure to Close Below The 18K Mark

The Indian markets after trading on a sluggish note in the morning session ended the day on a negative note to close below the 18K mark. The benchmark indices have slipped this afternoon on the back of weakness in select index heavyweights such as RIL and ICICI Bank. The main draggers for the day are Oil & Gas and Realty indices as they closed the day on a negative note declining more than one percentage points. Some gains are witnessed by the Auto and Healthcare indices as they closed the day on a flat note in the positive territory. The Sensex closed the day in red declining 120.24 points or 0.67 percentage points to close at 17,957.37. Nifty ends the day at 5397.55 declining 33.05 points or 0.61 percentage points. Market breadth was negative with 1,199 advances against 1,672 declines on BSE. On the global front, European stocks climbed, sending the Stoxx Europe 600 Indexto a 12-week high, as earnings from Air France-KLM Group to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA exceeded estimates. Asian shares and U.S. index futures climbed.