Consolidation in the domestic market continued for the second day on selling by institutional investors resulting in a cut of over 1.25% at the end of the trading session.

The market witnessed a green opening this morning but selling pressure soon took the indices into the negative terrain on the back of global uncertainty. Even the easing of the weekly food inflation numbers brought no respite to the market, which was in a consolidation mood for the second day in a row. The indices slipped further on outflows by institutional investors, dragging the indices deeper into the red.

The Sensex closed at 20,589, down 286.62 points (1.37%). The bellwether index touched a high-low of 20,937 and 20,544, respectively. The Nifty was down 81.45 points (1.30%) at 6,194. The index touched an intraday high of 6,296 and a low of 6,179 today.

The market breadth was negative today. The Sensex had 25 losers while five stocks closed in the green. The 50-share Nifty list had 30 declining stocks, 10 gainers and one stock was unchanged. Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index tanked 1.12% while the BSE Small-cap index declined 0.47%.

The main performers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries (up 2.65%), Tata Power (up 1.47%) and Reliance Infrastructure (up 1.16%). The top losers were DLF (down 4.41%), Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.28%), Bharti Airtel (down 3.26%), Cipla (down 3.22%) and BHEL (down 2.66%).

Consolidation in the domestic market continued for the second day on selling by institutional investors resulting in a cut of over 1.25% at the end of the trading session.

The market witnessed a green opening this morning but selling pressure soon took the indices into the negative terrain on the back of global uncertainty. Even the easing of the weekly food inflation numbers brought no respite to the market, which was in a consolidation mood for the second day in a row. The indices slipped further on outflows by institutional investors, dragging the indices deeper into the red.

The Sensex closed at 20,589, down 286.62 points (1.37%). The bellwether index touched a high-low of 20,937 and 20,544, respectively. The Nifty was down 81.45 points (1.30%) at 6,194. The index touched an intraday high of 6,296 and a low of 6,179 today.

The market breadth was negative today. The Sensex had 25 losers while five stocks closed in the green. The 50-share Nifty list had 30 declining stocks, 10 gainers and one stock was unchanged. Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index tanked 1.12% while the BSE Small-cap index declined 0.47%.

The main performers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries (up 2.65%), Tata Power (up 1.47%) and Reliance Infrastructure (up 1.16%). The top losers were DLF (down 4.41%), Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.28%), Bharti Airtel (down 3.26%), Cipla (down 3.22%) and BHEL (down 2.66%).

The sectoral space was a sea of red today as all sectors ended lower. BSE Realty was down 3.15%, BSE Oil & Gas was down 1.84%, BSE TECk was down 1.58%, BSE PSU was down 1.43% and BSE IT was down 1.34%.

Food inflation declined to 12.30% for the week ended 30^th October from 12.85% in the previous week, on improved supply of items, showing a downward movement for the fourth straight week.

While most food items like wheat, pulses and potatoes turned cheaper, onions became costlier as their prices rose about 10% within a week.

Considering that food inflation stood at a high of 12.59% during the corresponding week of last year, even 12.30% inflation is quite elevated.

Asian markets closed mixed today. The Chinese market was up as Moody's Investor Service upgraded the country's debt rating. Speculations that the government will hike fuel prices boosted domestic oil companies. The Japanese market was supported by speculations that proposed banking regulations by the Group of Twenty (G20) will not impact the country's banks. Other markets were lower awaiting the outcome of the two-day G20 meet.

The Shanghai Composite surged 1.04%, Hang Seng gained 0.82%, Nikkei 225 was up 0.31% and the Straits Times rose 0.13%. On the flip side, the Jakarta Composite declined 0.33%, KLSE Composite fell 0.94%, Seoul Composite tumbled 2.70% and Taiwan Weighted shed 0.16%.

The 2008 global financial crisis had little impact on funds flow to south Asia's power sector and had only marginal adverse impact on India's power sector. In India, the impact of the global financial crisis on its power sector was marginally adverse in the short term, said the report "The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Investments in the Electric Power Sector: the Experience of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh", released by the World Bank's Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).

Wall Street settled higher on Wednesday on positive economic data and as the dollar took a breather after four sessions of gains. The Federal Reserve said it will conduct 18 open-market operations from 12^th November through 9^th December. The central bank is buying an additional $600 billion of Treasuries through June and expects to reinvest $250 billion to $300 billion of proceeds from mortgage-backed debt and agency securities into Treasuries. Besides, the number of workers filing for initial jobless claims fell by a greater-than-expected 24,000 to 435,000, the lowest level in four months.

The Dow added 10.29 points (0.09%) to close at 11,357. The S&P 500 rose 5.31 points (0.44%) to 1,218. The Nasdaq gained 15.80 points (0.62%) to close at 2,578.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs32 crore in the equities segment on Wednesday. Domestic institutional investors were net sellers of Rs143 crore worth stocks on the same day.

Elecon Engineering Company Ltd (down 0.16%) has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that the company has been awarded an order worth Rs36 crores from Essar Projects (India) Ltd. for design, engineering, manufacturing, testing, inspection and supply, of equipment with all the auxiliaries / accessories for complete installation and commissioning of Material Handling Equipments for Paradeep Coal Berth Terminal Project.

The government today said it will take a call within a fortnight on whether State Bank of India (SBI) (down 1.20%) should be allowed to go for the rights issue, which is expected to be in the range of Rs18,000-Rs21,000 crore, less than the original estimate.

"We are number crunching that (SBI proposal of Rs20,000 crore rights issue) at this point of time. I think some decision would be taken perhaps in next 15 days," financial services secretary R Gopalan said on the sidelines of an event by consultant Skoch in New Delhi.

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) (2.09%) is planning to add 1.7 deadweight tonnage (DWT) to its existing fleets by acquiring 29 vessels by March 2012. For this acquisition the company will be investing around Rs 6,000 crore. Of the new order, 26 vessels will be delivered to SCI during the next two years while it has received the possession of three vessels. The vessels ordered include product tanker, crude oil carrier, bulk carrier, supply carrier, anchor handling vessels.