Markets continued their downward trajectory with primarily global cues playing spoilsport. It was an extremely volatile session with markets swinging wildly between gains and losses. Domestic indices started off weak tracking weakness in Asian markets as political deadlock in Greece stoked fears the country may fail to abide by its bailout terms and may be compelled to drop the euro, further aggravating Europe's debt crisis. It then zoomed in positive with marginally positive opening by European markets but soon slipped back in red. Further, FII selling dampened sentiments. Market breadth was weak as on BSE, 1,837 shares declined and 977 shares gained.
The BSE Sensex touched a high of 16,615 and a low of 16,423 before it ended 0.4% or 67 points lower at 16,480. The mid cap and small cap stocks fell harder than their large cap peers. Both the BSE Mid-cap and BSE Small-cap indices dropped by 1% and 1.2% respectively. The S&P CNX Nifty too dropped 0.5% or 25 points to settle at 4,975.
The sectoral indices ended with a mixed bag. The only two gainers were the BSE FMCG and IT indices which grew by 2.7% and 0.2% respectively. On the other hand, the top losers were the BSE Realty, Metal, Bankex and Power indices which fell 3%, 2.1% and 1.9% and 1.8% respectively.
Of the BSE – 30 stocks, 22 stocks declined with only 8 gainers. DLF, SBI, M&M, NTPC and Jindal Steel were the top five losers which fell 4.2%, 3.6%, 3.2%, 2.9% and 2.9% respectively. On the contrary the top five gainers were ITC, TCS, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto and Wipro which each grew by 5.6%, 2.1%, 1.4%, 1.2% and 1.1% respectively.
As per the data released by SEBI, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in equity to the tune of Rs 369 crores. Similarly they were net sellers in debt segments to the tune of Rs 4 crores.