Weakening rupee drags market

The benchmark indices ended lower on Tuesday, amid a volatile trading session, as the weakening rupee weighed on investor sentiment.

The Sensex ended at 16,026, down 156 points and the Nifty closed at 4,861, lower by 46 points.

For the most part of the day, the markets traded on a firm note.

However, the concerns regarding the rupee touching new lows against the US dollar weighed on the overall sentiment which intensified selling pressure in the latter half of the trading session.

Asian markets ended higher in trades today. The Hang Seng advanced 117 points to 19,039, Nikkei jumped 95 points to 8,729 and the Shanghai advanced 25 points to close at 2,373.

The European markets were also trading higher. The CAC 40 index jumped 18 points to 3,045, DAX advanced 16 points to 6,376 and the FTSE was up 44 points at 5,349 levels.

Tata Power was the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 5.3% to Rs 90. Maruti Suzuki, Sterlite Industries, SBI, Hindalco, Suin Pharma, Larsen & Toubro, Gail India, DLF, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Coal India and mahindra & Mahindra were also among the losers, down 1.4-4.5% each. On the other hand, Tata Motors, TCS, BHEL and HDFC were among the notable gainers.

Selling pressure was visible across the sectors. Metal and banking stocks were amongst the worst hit. The BSE metal index was the top sectoral loser down nearly 2% or 185 points to close at 9,934 levels. Bankex also slipped 164 points or 1.5% to shut shop at 10,678 levels. Power, realty, capital goods, PSU, FMCG, auto and oil & gas indices also ended lower by 0.5-1.4%

each.

While, IT and consumer durable indices ended higher.

Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, Indusind Bank, Union Bank, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank were the top losers from the banking space.

Among other stocks, Akzo Nobel India ended higher by around 2% at Rs 879 after its board approved a buyback of company's equity shares at a price of Rs 920 per share through tender offer.

"The board of directors unanimously approved a buyback through tender offer of approx 1.3 million equity shares of Rs 10/- each from the minority shareholders at a price of Rs 920 per equity share, payable in cash, upto an aggregate amount of Rs 120 crore," Akzo Nobel India said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

Idea Cellular dipped almost 5.5% to Rs 77 on huge volume. As many as a combined 3.96 million shares have changed hands on the counter so far, as against an average of around 2.5 million shares that were traded daily in past two weeks.

According to reports, Aditya Birla Group telecom firm said that the telecom regulatory authority of India's recommendations on spectrum re-auction were in "gross violation of the Supreme Court order cancelling 122 telecom licences" granted in 2008.

The broader markets also ended on a weak note. The BSE mid-cap index ended lower by 34 points at 5,854 and the small-cap index slipped 43 points to 6,275.

The overall breadth was negative as 1,566 stocks declined while 1,083 stocks advanced.