It was a weak session for the markets, which remained languish at lower levels through the day and have not shown any signs of recovery. Banking, capital goods, realty, power, auto, oil & gas and metal stocks rotten the markets very badly. The Sensex closed below 17000 mark while stayed below that mark for major part of the day. The Nifty Fifty managed to hold above 5000 levels. Weak cues across the globe also helped the negative sentiments. Market breadth was pathetic. Midcap and small cap stocks also crushed. 

The Sensex has hit an intraday high of 17,104.59 and low of 16,863.38, before finishing the day at 16,907.11 down 1.95% or 336.05 points. The Nifty lost 92.2 points or 1.8% to settle at 5025.45 after touched high/low of 5118.90 and 5010.70, respectively. 

Market breadth was weak; about 1144 shares have advanced, 1782 shares declined, and 178 shares remained unchanged.

Biggest losers were Tata Motors (-4%), Reliance Infra (-4%), ICICI Bank (-3.4%), SBI (-3.3%), Suzlon Energy (-6%)and Idea Cellular (-4%) while Hindalco, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sterlite Industries, Hero Honda and GAIL gainers.

Banking stocks were worst performers of the day. BSE Bankex fell 3.06% or 264.01 points to close at 8,375.89 due to heavy selling in IOB, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, PNB, ICICI Bank, SBI, Kotak Mahindra and HDFC Bank.

BSE Realty Index crushed by 2.68% or 211.54 points at 7,693.34 as Akruti City, Puravankara Proj, HDIL, Ansal Properties, Indiabulls Real, Peninsula Land, Unitech, Omaxe and DLF.

Capital goods stocks like Kirloskar Bros, Suzlon Energy, Rel Ind Infra, Areva T&D, Punj Lloyd, ABB, L&T and BHEL hammered a lot which helped the BSE Capital Goods Index to end at 13,341.91, down 328.17 points or 2.4%.

Auto stocks like Escorts, TVS Motor, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Bharat Forge and Mah and Mah drifted lower. BSE Auto Index lost 2.05% at 4,684.83.

Nymex July crude has hit a new high of 135.09 per barrel. BSE Oil & Gas Index cracked 1.89% to settle at 11,216.54 due to selling in Petronet LNG, RNRL, HPCL, Essar Oil, BPCL, Cairn India, Reliance, ONGC and IOC.

Power stocks have not charged up. Power Index slipped 2.12% at 3,232.82 led by selling in Suzlon Energy, GMR Infra,  Reliance Infra, ABB, Torrent Power and NTPC.

FMCG stocks including Tata Tea, ITC, Colgate, United Spirits, Dabur India, GSK Cons, Britannia and HUL also witnessed huge selling pressure. FMCG Index fell 1.74% to close at 2,440.04.

Metal stocks like JSW Steel, Hind Zinc, JindalStainless, SAIL, Jindal Saw, Tata Steel, NALCO and Jindal Steel lost shine. BSE Metal Index ended at 17,152.95, down 1.36%.

Technology stocks were in the green in morning trade due to Rupee depreciation but those stocks could not sustain their gains for long and drifted lower along with other stocks. BSE IT Index fell 0.79% at 4,418.23 led by selling in HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Mphasis, Wipro, TCS, Satyam and Infosys. The Indian Rupee depreciated to Rs 43.20 levels per dollar on selling by PSU banks. PSU banks may have sold dollars at 43.20 on behalf of RBI, says dealers.

Healthcare index was down marginally by 0.41% at 4,228.08 as Matrix Lab, Aurobindo Pharma, Wockhardt, Sun Pharma Adv, GSK Pharma, Orchid Chemical and Ranbaxy Labs witnessed selling.

Most active counters on the bourses were Reliance Capital, Reliance, IFCI and Cairn India.

Asian markets were trading lower following weak US markets cues. Shanghai Composite fell 1.42% or 50.48 points at 3,493.71. Hang Seng slipped 2.435 or 617.45 points at 24,842.84. Nikkei 225 Average fell 0.91% or 126.42 points at 13,799.88. Jakarta Composite was down 1.05% or 26.08 points at 2,468.63. Straits Times fell 40.57 points or 1.27% at 3,156.33. Seoul Composite slipped 1.47% or 27.24 points at 1,820.27. Taiwan Weighted lost 71.30 points or 0.79% at 8,944.27.