Sensex takes support at 14500; realty, power, banks fall

MUMBAI: Markets were witnessing selling pressure on Tuesday as investors resorted to profit booking ahead of Union budget. All the sectors were

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in the red led by losses in realty, power and banks. Subdued European markets also hurt sentiments.

At 2:30 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 14568.59, down 217.15 points or 1.47 per cent. The index touched an intra-day low of 14529.83 and high of 14907.48.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 4325.45, down 65.50 points or 1.49 per cent. The broader index hit a low of 4305.95 and high of 4426.75 in trade so far.

BSE Midcap Index was down 2.15 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index declined 1.73 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Realty Index declined 6.31 per cent, BSE Power Index tripped 2.24 per cent and BSE Bankex was down 2.19 per cent.

DLF (-7.37%), Tata Motors (-6.99%), Jaiprakash Associates (-6.58%), Sterlite Industries (-5.72%) and Reliance Infrastructure (-5.18%) were amongst the Sensex losers.

Hindustan Unilever (1.07%), ONGC (0.83%), TCS (0.44%) and Sun Pharmaceuticals (0.25%) were amongst the gainers.

European markets were choppy with negative bias. At 2:30 pm, FTSE 100 was down 0.18 per cent and CAC was up 0.05 per cent and DAX was unchanged. link....