New Delhi, Jan 29: Indian markets lost steam in the afternoon trading session on Tuesday after a rally following the RBI announcement of a 0.25 per cent during the day. The 30-share BSE index Sensex was pulled down by heavy selling in realty, oil & gas and auto counters.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended the session down 129.05 points, or 0.64 per cent, at 19,974.30. The index touched a high of 20,203.66 and a low of 19,970.05 in trade today.
Similarly, the National Stock Exchange Nifty index ended 27.45 points down, or 0.45 per cent, at down at 6,047.35.
The BSE Midcap Index was down 0.59 per cent and the BSE Smallcap Index declined 0.91 per cent.
Sectorw-wise, the BSE Realty Index was down 2.31 per cent, the BSE Oil & Gas Index was 1.36 per cent lower and the BSE Auto Index fell 1.24 per cent. The BSE FMCG Index advanced 0.37 per cent.
Among the stock which gained the most in terms of volume were SBI, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, RIL and Tata Steel. Top five Sensex gainers were Coal India, ITC, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank and Tata Power, while the top five losers were Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and BHEL.
Earlier during the day, the RBI slashed its key interest rates by 0.25 per cent and released Rs. 18,000 crore additional liquidity into the system to perk up growth through reduced cost of borrowing. RBI Governor D Subbarao in the third quarter monetary policy review surprised the market by cutting short-term lending rate called repo by 0.25 per cent to 7.75 per cent and Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by similar margin to 4 per cent.
Elsewhere, most Most Asian shares were up on bargain-buying, but investors remained cautious ahead of more US economic reports and a Federal Reserve policy decision later in the week that may offer clues to the Fed's stimulus plans.
