Markets end lower amid volatility

Indian share markets ended marginally lower in trades on Wednesday amid a highly volatile trading session.

The Sensex shed 44 points to close at 17,199 and the 50-share Nifty slid 17 points to shut shop at 5,227 levels.

The Sensex touched a high of 17,319 and the low of 17,076 in the intra-day deals.

The Asian markets ended on a subdued note.

The Hang Seng slipped 215 points to close at 20,140, Nikkei shed 36 points to close at 9,459 and the Shanghai closed marginally higher at 2,309 levels.

The European markets were trading on a firm note. The CAC, DAX and FTSE were trading higher by nearly 1% each.

Back home, Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was among the top loser on the Sensex, down 1.4% to Rs 733.

Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel, Sterlite Industries, BHEL, Tata Power, Tata Steel, TCS, DLF, Hindalco and Bajaj Auto were also among the laggards.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Infosys, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, HDFC, HUL and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the notable gainers.

Metal and oil & gas stocks were amongst the worst hit in trades today.

The BSE metal index was the top sectoral loser.

The index ended lower by 1.3% or 146 points at 10,721 levels and the Oil & Gas index shed 1% to shut shop at 7,900

levels.

Capital goods, realty, power, auto, tech and PSU stocks also witnessed some bit of selling pressure.

While, healthcare and banking stocks were on the investors radar. The BSE Healthcare index ended higher by 0.6% at 6,625.

Bankex also advanced marginally to 11,788 levels. IT and FMCG indices also ended higher with marginal gains.

The broader markets ended lower in trades today. The BSE mid-cap index slipped 40 points to 6,330 and the small-cap index slipped 18 points to 6,774 levels.

Shares of cement manufacturing companies were under pressure on the bourses in trades today on concerns of declining cement prices during the monsoon season and penalties by Competition Commission of India.

Gujarat Gas Company dipped 7.3% to Rs 317, extending its previous day's 15% fall, on concerns that pipeline firm may soon get tariff revision orders from the regulator.

BASF India is trading higher by 2.4% at Rs 520 on announcing expansion plans of around Rs 1,000 crore for setting up of a new chemical production site at Dahej in Gujarat.

The overall breadth was negative as 1,539 stocks declined while 1,232 stocks advanced.