Sensex slips 43 pts to close at over two-week low

The benchmark BSE Sensex today fell by 43 points to close at over two-week low of 25,580.34 in choppy trading as renewed concerns over the health of Chinese economy battered global stocks for the second straight day.

Earlier, the market opened in the green amid across-the- board value-buying in realty, power and oil&gas stocks.

Equities later pared gains on continued sell-off in Asian and European markets, which fell for the second day on Chinese concerns and rising tensions in the Middle East.

A disappointing US factory data also added to the sense of fear, hammering Wall Street stocks yesterday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex resumed higher at 25,744.70 and advanced to the day's high of 25,766.76. However, after swinging between gains and losses, it finally settled 43.01 points or 0.17 per cent down at 25,580.34 -- its lowest close since December 18 when it had closed at 25,519.22.

The gauge had plunged by 537.55 points on the first day of the week.The NSE Nifty after recapturing the 7,800-mark in early trade to touch a high of 7,831.20 concluded 6.65 points or 0.09 per cent down at 7,784.65.

Coal India was the worst Sensex performer by tumbling 1.35 per cent, followed by SBI at 1.22 per cent.

Other losers included Hero MotoCorp (1.11%), HUL (1.09%), TCS (1.06%), NTPC (0.90%), HDFC Bank (0.85%), Lupin (0.84%), Bharti Airtel (0.78%), Cipla (0.68%) Axis Bank (0.66%) and Tata Motors (0.66%).

On the other side of the spectrum, Tata Steel, GAIL, Asian Paints, ONGC, RIL, BHEL and ICICI Bank provided some relief.

Asian markets mostly fell to end another volatile session, a day after a global sell-off that saw trading suspended in Chinese shares. European equities were also trading lower in their early deals.

Among BSE sectoral indices, IT suffered the most by losing (0.42%) followed by teck (0.41%), bankex (0.32%), auto (0.31%) and FMCG (0.10%).

The broader markets, however, outperformed, as the BSE small-cap index ended 0.79 per cent higher while mid-cap index gained 0.56 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 667.15 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.