The downturn continued today right from the opening bell and dismal industrial growth and global cues added to the woes, pulling the market down further by around 2% by the close of trade.

The market started on a weak note on unsupportive global cues. A recovery attempt in the morning session was thwarted by selling pressure, pushing the indices lower. Subdued industrial growth numbers for September caused further damage to the market. The indices traded sideways in the post-noon session, but negative cues from Asia and Europe resulted in a bleak closing.

The Sensex closed at 20,157, down 432.20 points (2.10%) over its previous close. The index touched a high of 20,594 and a low of 20,108 during trade today. The Nifty was down 122.60 points (1.98%) at 6,071. The index touched an intraday high of 6,202 and a low of 6,056 during the session.

In line with the performance, the breadth was pathetic today. The Sensex closed with 28 losers and two gainers, while the Nifty settled with 45 decliners and five gainers. The broader indices bore the brunt of the sell-off today with the BSE Mid-cap index tanking 2.32% and the BSE Small-cap index tumbling 2.44%.

Hero Honda (up 0.29%) and HDFC (up 0.11%) were the only gainers on the Sensex today. The big losers were DLF (down 5.46%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 4.75%), Hindalco Industries (down 4.72%), State Bank of India (down 4.55%) and Tata Steel (down 3.96%).

There were no green ticks in the sectoral space today. BSE Realty (down 4.76%), BSE Consumer Durables (down 3.53%), BSE Metal (down 3.31%), BSE Bankex (down 2.90%) and BSE PSU (down 2.13%) led the sectoral losers.

Institutional investors were sellers on Thursday. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of stocks worth Rs60 crore while domestic institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs269 crore yesterday.

The Asian markets were a sea of red with China's Shanghai Composite plunging 5.16%, the biggest fall in 14 months, on rumours that the government would raise rates to ease economic growth, following higher-than-expected inflation numbers for October. The developments in China triggered a sell-off across the region's bourses.

The Shanghai Composite crashed 5.16%, the Hang Seng tanked 1.93%, the Jakarta Composite plunged 2.10%, the KLSE Composite declined 0.92%, Nikkei 225 plunged 1.39%, Straits Times fell 1.26%, Seoul Composite shed 0.18% and Taiwan Weighted sank 1.43% in trade today.

Industrial growth declined the most in 16 months to 4.4% in September, reflecting a slowdown in demand across sectors, as interest rates rose in response to the Reserve Bank of India's tight monetary moves.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has expressed concern at the sluggish pace of factory output, but reserved detailed comments for want of in-depth analysis. However, many experts remain positive for industrial growth numbers for the next few months due to the festive season and prospects of better farm produce.

The US market closed lower on Thursday, following lower earnings reported by technology major Cisco. The company offered a weaker-than-expected sales forecast, citing lower demand from cable companies and government agencies. Besides, China rejecting suggestions to review its exchange regime at the G20 meet, also weighed on the investors.

The Dow declined 73.94 points (0.65%) to 11,283. The S&P 500 fell 5.17 points (0.42%) to 1,213. The Nasdaq shed 23.26 points (0.90%) to 2,555.

Amara Raja Batteries (down 0.54%) has drawn up plans to invest nearly Rs130 crore by September next year to hike production capacity in a phased manner and on other capital expenditures.

The company, which is aiming to become a global brand, also said it is considering the possibility of setting up a manufacturing unit overseas, preferably in Southeast Asia and Africa.

State-run power major NTPC (down 0.05%) is all set to commission the first unit of Stage-II expansion project of the Simhadri Super Thermal Power Station by March 2011 as the company is planning to double the capacity of the plant to 2000MW by the end of 2011-12.

Presently, the plant has 1,000MW capacity (2X500MW), which was synchronised in 2002. Further, the company is planning to add two more units each with 500MW by investing around Rs5,000 crore.

Infrastructure firm Gayatri Projects (down 2.68%) has received the approval from its board for financial closure for its NHAI BOT Indore-Dewas road project, located in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The total debt of Rs450 crore has been syndicated and definitive agreements have been signed with lenders.

The company had secured the above project under BOT (Toll) with a total project cost of Rs602 crore. The company has agreed to pay a premium of Rs24.10 crore to NHAI annually and has a right to collect toll on the existing four-lane highway through its SPV.