Sensex falls 253 points, ends below 16,000 mark

Indian markets came under broad based selling pressure Friday, sending the BSE Sensex below the key 16,000 mark after 10 days. The Sensex plunged 253 points or 1.56% to 15,965, while the broader Nifty index declined nearly 83 point to shut at 4,841.60.

Weak global cues weighed down on equities. Asian stocks closed lower after data from China indicated a slowdown in the manufacturing sector. European stocks also traded with deep cuts.

The markets ended near the lowest point of the day suggesting further weakness. "Markets have seen strong breakdown... If the Nifty falls below 4,770 then investors should exit all long positions in the market," Shardul Kulkarni, senior technical analyst at Angel Broking said.

A string of brokerages downgraded India's GDP growth estimates for the current fiscal, which dented confidence on the Street. On Thursday, government data showed that India's March quarter GDP had grown at the slowest in nine years.

"Building from the incoming weaker growth data and continued weak global funding environment, we are cutting our 2012 GDP growth estimate further to 5.7% from 6.3%," Morgan Stanley said in its report today.
46 of the 50 stocks closed lower on the Nifty index. Asian Paints (-6.35%), the top Nifty loser, saw profit booking after many days of gains. Banking stocks also saw profit booking. Public sector lenders like Bank of Baroda (-4.6%) and PNB (-3.85%) saw huge selling pressure.

IT stocks fell on weak global markets. HCL Tech (-3.3%), India's 4th biggest IT firm, led the declines. Other frontline IT stocks - Wipro (-2%), Infosys (-1.66%) and TCS (-1.6%) - also ended with deep cuts. Maruti Suzuki (-2.65%), India's biggest car maker, fell after reporting 5% fall in sales annually.

FMCG stocks were the only ones to witness some buying on the back of risk aversion. ITC (1.8%) was the top Nifty gainer.

The market breadth was extremely weak, with only 17% stocks managing to advance on the broader BSE 500 index.

The only silver lining was the rupee, which managed to pull back against the dollar. It traded 29 paise higher at 55.91 against the greenback at 4 p.m.