HEAVY SELLING

The benchmark equity indices have extended losses to hit fresh intraday lows in late-afternoon session due to heavy selling across all the sectors mainly IT, Realty and TECk on worries of corporate earnings growth and also amid a weak Asian trend. In the meantime, global markets are also not in encouraging mood with European markets and US index futures also trading in red.  Back home, NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological level of 5,800 and 19,300 respectively. All the sectoral indices were trading in red, shares of IT companies are the biggest losers, followed by Realty, Metals, Banking and Capital Goods stocks which are witnessing intense selling pressure. The broader markets were also witnessing selling pressure; the BSE Mid-cap index and Small-cap index shed 0.99% and 0.52% respectively. The market breadth on the BSE was strongly in favor of declines in the ratio of 1725:1111 while 100 scrips remained unchanged. Moreover, the market volumes remained very high as it has already crossed the volumes of Rs 1.75 lakh crore mark.

The BSE Sensex shed 258.19 points or 1.33% at 19,128.63. The index touched a high and a low of 19,649.22 and 19,109.56 respectively.

The BSE Mid-cap index and Small-cap index shed 0.99% and 0.52% respectively.

All the BSE sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in red, IT down 2.47%, Realty down 2.05%, Teck down 2.05%, CG down 1.68% and Metal down 1.55% were the major losers in the BSE sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero Honda up 2.29%, HUL up 1.36%, Bajaj Auto up 0.99%, ONGC up 0.77% and Sterlite up 0.20%.

On the flip side, TCS down 3.25%, DLF down 3.24%, Tata Steel down 2.58%, JP Associates down 2.52% and Infosys down 2.49% were the major losers on the index.

In a move aimed at preventing a re-occurring of global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will begin monitoring seven large economies of the world including India. The surveillance system that these economies will face aims at highlighting and rectifying flaws before they reach unsustainable levels.

The new system that was outlined in a joint statement following the IMF's Summer Meeting in which the G-20 finance officials had met would be empowered to take corrective actions when global imbalances in such areas as foreign trade or government debt rise to excessive levels or there are fears that a large bubble could bust in a big economy which could have global implications.

Analysts see the agreement as a significant achievement which will help maintain the momentum of global co-ordination in matters of economy. It was the co-ordinated action of large economies following the financial crisis of 2008 that helped the world economy stand back on its feet so quickly. However, apprehensions have been expressed that as the recovery continues at different pace in different economies, varying action by policy makers can again lead to nationalistic polices disconnected from an increasingly globalised world.

The new agreement is therefore aimed at ensuring that large economies continue to interact with each other at policy level and their actions remain under scrutiny of each other too. In the beginning the monitoring process would focus on seven of the world's largest economies but would be eventually broadened to include all G-20 members. Although officially the names of seven economies have not been mentioned, these are widely believed to include the United States, China, Japan, Germany, France, Britain and India.

The S&P CNX Nifty declined 84 points or 1.44% at 5,740.55. The index touched high and low of 5,897.90 and 5,732.50, respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Hero Honda up 2.26%, HUL up 1.80%, Bajaj Auto up 1.22%, ONGC up 0.73% and Sterlite up 0.15%.

On the other hand, HCL Tech down 3.87%, TCS down 3.78, DLF down 3.83%, JP Associates down 3.02% and RPower down 2.82% were the major losers on the index.

Majority of the other Asian markets settled in the red. Hang Seng shed 0.74%, Jakarta Composite trimmed 0.09%, Nikkei 225 declined 0.36%, Straits Times plunged 0.28%, Seoul Composite lost 0.13% and Taiwan Weighted declined 0.04%; while Shanghai Composite surged 0.21% and KLSE Composite advanced 0.39%.

The European markets are trading on a negative note. CAC 40 slipped 1.17%,  DAX plunged 0.98% and FTSE 100 declined 0.69%.