Markets end lower on profit booking in heavyweights

The Sensex and the Nifty dropped in trade today with the former retreating from a new record closing hit on Muhurat Trading Day.

The Sensex ended the day lower by 287 points, while the Nifty lost 64 points in trade. Heavyweight ITC, which has the largest weight on the Sensex and the Nifty pulled indices lower as the stock dropped more then 3 per cent in trade.

Private sector banking major, ICICI Bank also fell in trade on sustained selling pressure, while PSU banking stocks ended the day smartly higher.

Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank, Andhra Bank and Bank of India saw a spectacular rally in their share prices. Software major Tata Consultancy Services also dropped more then 2 per cent in trade, while Infosys ended the day flat.
Real estate stocks had a good day in trade today with notable gainers from the space being DLF, which jumped 2 per cent, while

Indiabulls and Unitech also saw some buying interest.

Pharma stocks were the worst hit in trade as investors moved away from defensives in favour of high beta names. Pharma stocks that lost ground were Ranbaxy Labs, Sun Pharma, Lupin Labs and Glenmark Pharma.

Metal stocks also saw some buying interest in trade with Tata Steel, NMDC, Orissa Minerals among the top gainers in trade. Auto stocks that have been seeing buying interest in the last few trading sessions lost ground with Maruti Udyog and Mahindra and Mahindra among the prominent losers.

Meanwhile, most markets in Asia also ended the day lower while the European markets were also trading with losses.

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