Markets fall on IIP, oil concerns

Weak IIP numbers, and rising crude prices, which may result in a fiscal strain on the economy, exerted pressure on the bourses, as the Sensex and Nifty, both, ended almost at the day's lows of 19,263 down 189 points and 5,786 off 56 points respectively.

Oil and gas exploration major Reliance Industries, along with HDFC, HDFC Bank and Tata Motors dragged the Sensex down on Monday.

The markets, which opened in the red on Monday, gained marginally during the initial hour of trade.

The Sensex touched its peak of 19,426, but, rampant selling in auto and realty stocks, along with slipping heavyweights, saw the bourses dip into the red. Negative movements continue ever since.

The broader markets also ended in the red, after a rally seen in the sectors last week.

The Mid-cap index was at 7,124 while the Small-cap index was at 8,710, both off 0.7% each.

Sunteck Realty was the top loser on the mid-cap index, down 10% at Rs 344. S Kumar Nation at Rs 64 and JM Financial at Rs 27, both down 6%,

were the other major losers.

In the small-cap space, Oriental Hotels at Rs 32, Nouveau Multi at Rs 22 and Gravita India at Rs 367 slipped 6% each.

Among the sectoral indices, healthcare and stocks managed to stay afloat in positive terrain, but both the indices clocked in negligible gains at 6,126 and and 3,638 respectively.

Divis Lab at Rs 707 was the top gainer on the Healthcare index up 3%, followed by Cadila Health at rs 845 and Sun Pharma at Rs 450, both up 2%.

Sun Pharma gained on newspaper reports the home-grown pharma firm is eyeing a marketing alliance for the Indian market with the US-based drugmaker Merck & Co, and IPCA LAb at Rs 314 up 1%.