Another bad day for markets; Sensex plunges 309 pts

The Indian bourses witnessed yet another drastic fall in today's trade with Nifty closing below the crucial 5200 mark and Sensex plunging 309 points.
Major Headlines;
RIL drops on E&P concerns
Realty Sector drops on stamp duty hikes
Gammon Infra receives the letter of award



Indian indices:
On the first day of the week, the key benchmark indices witnessed selling pressure throughout the trading session and ended on a weak note. Indian markets witnessed a drastic fall in the afternoon session followed by weak European markets and selling pressure from all across the board. All the 30 Sensex stocks and the entire 13 sectoral index closed in red.
The indices were choppy for a brief period before giving into panic selling and closed the trade on a weak note. The Sensex closed below 17100 mark and nifty closed below 5200.
Markets have been in a bearish trend for the past five weeks. Rising concerns on inflation and a possible hike in petrol prices which might also add to inflationary pressures are a topic of concern amongst the trading community. Another fear of no rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India in its monetary policy next month is also weighing on traders sentiments. Fall in the Indian Rupee against the US dollar was another dampener. The Indian Rupee fell to 51.44 per dollar against previous close of 51.17. Global cues were not supportive either. Asian markets closed flat to negative while European stocks gave up early gains.
Sensex ended at 17053, down by 309 points and the Nifty stood at 5184, down by 94 points.
Market sentiment:
The market breadth stood in favour of declines. Of the 2987 stocks traded on the BSE, 919 (30.77%) rose, 1955 (65.45%) fell and 113 (3.78%) remained unchanged.
Viewing volumes:
India's leading financial private banking institutions - Kotak Mahindra Bank was traded the most, with over 2.67 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that were a real estate development company - HDIL (0.58 crore shares), an integrated infrastructure development company - Lanco Infratech (0.53 crore shares), Manappuram Finance - a non-banking financial company (0.47 crore shares) and Wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.43 crore shares).
Sectoral & stock screening:
All the 13 sectors index closed in red zone. The topmost losers were BSE Realty which fell 3.58%, BSE Power dipped 2.56% and
BSE Bankex declined 2.44%.
Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were - MAX India which advanced 3.90%, Jaiprakash Associates gained 2.58% and Mphasis surged 2.26%. Top three losers were - Manappuram Finance which fell 11%, Opto Circuits dropped 7.33% and Shree Renuka Sugar down 7.31%.
Global signals:
Asian stock markets ended mostly lower on Monday (March 26, 2012), as global growth concerns continued to keep many buyers at
bay, while investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of data releases in the US and Europe later in the week.
European shares are marginally up on Monday, as fall in Spain on concerns about a government setback in regional elections offset a strong German economic survey.
The Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Monday.
Market Outlook: Data to be released in the US on Monday is:- Pending Home Sales and Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey