Markets have closed on a weak note. It opened higher following positive cues from Asian markets but was not able to sustain its gains at close. The BSE bank, consumer durable, realty, oil & gas indices witnessed heavy selling pressure. Capital goods, power and metal stocks have seen mild losses. However, IT, pharma and auto indices closed positive. Sensex lost 242 points and Nifty lost 73 points from day's high.

The Sensex was down 72.91 points or 0.45% at 16275.59, and the Nifty was down 15.25 points or 0.31% at 4859.80. About 1044 shares have advanced, 1879 shares declined, and 185 shares are unchanged.

The BSE midcap and smallcap indices have lost over 1%. Amongst midcap space, Jyoti Structures, BGR Energy, Brigade Enterp, Elecon Engg, SpiceJet, Gateway Distri, Oriental Bank, Bajaj Holdings, JSW Holdings and Bombay Dyeing were down over 4%.

Small cap stocks like Kirloskar Pneum, Elantas Beck, Emkay Shares, Greenply Ind, Prime Focus, Piramal Glass and BAG Films slipped over 5%.

Top losers on the bourses were SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC, ONGC, Unitech, Power Grid and Cairn India while Sataym, Cipla, Wipro, ITC and Sterlite Industries were top gainers.

The BSE Bankex fell 2.33% or 184.61 points at 7,754.64 led by selling in Oriental Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, IOB, SBI, Union Bank and Federal Bank.

The BSE Realty index slipped 1.55% or 113.99 points at 7,226.10 due to weakness in Phoenix Mills, Unitech, Peninsula Land, Anant Raj Ind, Ansal Properties, Sobha Developers, Parsvnath, Omaxe and DLF.

Oil stocks like Cairn India, Petronet LNG, ONGC, Reliance, RNRL and Essar Oil lost ground. The BSE oil & gas index lost 1.04% or 112.75 points at 10,707..90.

Power stocks including GVK Power, CESC, Power Grid Corp, Suzlon Energy, Reliance Power, Tata Power and Torrent Power tumbled. Power Index lost 0.45% at 3112.31.

The BSE metal index ended down 0.44% at 16270.77 as selling pressure witness in Jindal Steel, Ispat Industries, Jindal Saw, Hind Zinc, Tata Steel, SAIL and Hindalco.

The BSE capital goods index slid 0.39% at 12784.14. Capital goods stocks like Jyoti Structure, Triveni Engg, Alstom Projects, Praj Industries, Suzlon Energy, Areva T&D, Bharat Elec and Astra Microwave have hammered.

However, the BSE FMCG index gained 0.69% at 2345.31 as buying interest seen in ITC, Nestle, Marico, HUL and Colgate.

Technology stocks like Satyam, Wipro, MphasiS, i-Flex Solutions, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and TCS also gained. The BSE IT index moved up 0.73% at 4,450.40.

The BSE pharma index closed up 0.46% at 4247.07 due to buying in Opto Circuits, Cipla, Sterling Bio, Glenmark, Cadila Health, Novartis India, Ranbaxy Labs, Matrix Lab and Dr Reddys Labs.

Total turnover traded on the markets stood at Rs 66617.33 crore including Rs 11557.18 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 49968.5 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 5091.65 crore from BSE Cash segment.

Asian markets were trading higher. Hang Seng was up 0.67% or 162.52 points at 24,289.83. Nikkei 225 Average went up 126.51 points or 0.92% at 13,816.70. Jakarta Composite was up 15.46 points or 0.64% at 2,435.18. Straits Times rose 0.36% or 11.02 points  at 3,114.32. Seoul Composite was up 0.96% or 17.29 points at 1,817.87. Taiwan Weighted went up 0.36% or 31.11 points at 8,738.94. However, Shanghai Composite was down marginally by 2.9 points or 0.09% at 3,361.64.