Mkts subdued over global cues

Mumbai: After a flat trading for major portion of the session, the markets nosedived to close down tracking a sell-off in European markets. Analysts comment that the market will be influenced by global factors till Budget for FY16/17 is unveiled scheduled on February 29. They further predict that there will be one more round of volatility in the near term.

Sensex closed at 24,287, down by 329 points, Nifty down 102 points at 7,387. Even the broader markets also gave up their gains ending in the red. On the sectoral front, PSU Banks ended in the green with gains of about 2 per cent, while private bank index ended in red following heavy profit booking. While IT, pharma, FMCG, metal and media indices closed lower, telecom and realty sectors ended in red.

Following sharp decline in IT stocks on the Nasdaq, TCS, Infosys and Wipro fell up to 3 per cent each, while oil and gas stocks - ONGC and RIL - also declined between 1 and 2 per cent. The steel sector gained as the government set minimum import price, as JSW Steel and Tata Steel gained up to 1 per cent, while Jindal Steel and SAIL ended lower.

The gainers: Axis Bank, up 2.38 per cent at Rs 408.40; State Bank of India (SBI), up 2.29 per cent at Rs 172.05; Bharti Airtel, up 1.27 per cent at Rs 311; Lupin, up 0.97 per cent at Rs 1,818.90; and Gail, up 0.59 per cent at Rs 343.50.

The losers: Tata Motors, down 3.94 per cent at Rs 323.95; ITC, down 2.72 per cent at Rs 315.10; ONGC, down 2.43 per cent at Rs 214.60; Sun Pharma, down 2.42 per cent at Rs 836.10; and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 2.36 per cent at Rs 2,368.50.