Markets End The Day Lower, ICICI Bank Drops Sharply

It was a volatile day of trade with the Sensex and the Nifty giving-up all of the gains in the last 30 minutes of trade, to end lower.

Benchmark indices ended the day marginally lower, even as buying in IT stocks and Reliance Industries did not help the markets.

Heavy selling in banking stocks, was one of the prime reasons for the decline in the markets. The Bank Nifty ended the day with losses of near 2 per cent, as ICICI Bank lost almost 5 per cent in trade.

The Sensex ended the day lower by 81 points, while the Nifty closed the day lower by 12 points.

Shares in Reliance Industries, which announced a book closure date of May 14 for its rights issue, managed to end the day higher. Auto stocks were in demand and were among the top gainers from the Nifty. Among the stocks that gained from the sector were HeroMotor Corp, Maruti, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors.

BPCL, Dr Reddys, Kotak Mahindra and HUL were up the top losers in trade from the Nifty pack. Shares in Wockhardt Pharma ended the day higher after the company returned to profitability.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee ended at 75.73 per dollar, down 18 paise from its Friday's close of 75.55 per dollar.