Nifty ends below 2950; Realty dips 10%, Power down 8%

Benchmark indices snapped two days rally and witnessed sharp cut. Both indices washed out Monday's gain on account of huge profit booking in realty, metal, capital goods, oil, banking and power stocks. The Nifty closed below 2950 level and the Sensex settled below 9900 level. Midcap and small cap stocks followed the same trend. Weak global cues also fueled to negative sentiment.

Heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, BHEL, DLF, SBI, Infosys, ICICI Bank, L&T, SAIL, HDFC and HDFC Bank were leading contributors in today's fall.

The Sensex plunged 696.47 points or 6.61% to 9,839.69, after hitting an intraday low of 9,799.45. The 50-share NSE Nifty touched a low of 2919.45, before closing the day with a loss of 209.6 points or 6.665 at 2938.65. All BSE sectoral indices closed in red.

BSE Midcap Index fell 118.39 points or 3.41%, to settle at 3,356.70 and Small Cap Index lost 100.02 points or 2.51%, to close at 3,888.01.

Volumes got improved in today's session. Total traded turnover stood at Rs 52,927.06 crore. This includes Rs 8,816.35 crore from NSE cash segment, Rs 40,386.80 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 3,723.91 crore from BSE cash segment.

Market breadth was extremely weak; declines outnumbered advances. About 971 shares have advanced while 2015 shares have declined. Nearly 206 shares remained unchanged.