The Sensex ended the day sharply lower by 277 points (provisional), while the Nifty slid 80 points in trade. Banking stocks which rallied substantially in trade, suddenly lost ground in the last two hours of trade.

ICICI Bank, which at one stage had rallied almost 1.5 per cent, dropped in trade and closed sharply lower. Among other heavyweights, Larsen and Toubro lost around 3 per cent, while ITC lost 1.61 per cent and Reliance shed 1.2 per cent.

Software stocks managed to hold ground and ended the day resilient. Among the stocks that ended the day with gains were Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services.

Shares in Power Grid rallied more then 1 per cent after the company said that it had commissioned the Raichur-Solapur transmission line.

Real estate stocks which have rallied substantially in trade in the last few trading sessions lost heavy ground. DB Realty tanked almosy 8 per cent in trade, while Indiabulls was down 4 per cent and Anant Raj lost more then 3 per cent.

Mid cap stocks which have rallied substantially in the last few trading sessions lost ground and ended the day lower. Among the losers in trade were Reliance Communications, GMR Infra and HDIL.

Poor Chinese PMI data ensured that the metal stocks came under some selling pressure in trade today. Among the losers were Sesa Sterlite and Steel Authority of India.

Meanwhile, markets across Asia ended the day mixed with the Japanese Nikkei and the Jakarta Composite gaining, while the Chinese Shanghai Composite lost ground.

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