Sensex dips below 20k-mark, down over 120pts on profit-booking, FMCG, PSU stocks sink

"European indices were showing mixed trend...Domestic market breadth was negative and profit-selling in lead stocks after recent gains led to pressure," said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio.

However, minor gains in RIL, ONGC and Bajaj Auto and around 1.5 per cent rise each in NTPC and Sun Pharma saved the market from a major fall.

Globally, Asian stocks ended narrowly mixed after reports said the Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced it would adopt open-ended policy easing and a 2 per cent inflation target.

Key indices in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan inched up by 0.29 per cent to 0.49 per cent while from China, Japan and Singapore eased by up to 0.56 per cent.

However, European markets were trading lower in the afternoon deals as indices in France, UK and Germany declined by 0.51 per cent to 1.41 per cent, as per latest data.

Turning to the local market, 21 scrips out of the Sensex pack ended lower while only 9 counters finished higher.

Major losers from the Sensex pack were Gail India (4.47 pc), Hindalco (2.44 pc), Tata Motors (1.46 pc), SBI (1.34 pc), TCS (1.19 pc), Tata Steel (1.17 pc), Tata Power (1.06 pc), L&T (0.95 pc) and Bharti Airtel (0.94 pc).

However among gainers, Sun Pharma firmed up by 1.55 per cent, followed by NTPC (1.45 pc) and Jindal Steel (0.53 pc).

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE-Realty dropped by 1.98 per cent, followed by BSE-CD (1.93 pc), BSE-FMCG (1.30 pc), BSE-PSU (0.91 pc), BSE-CG (0.86 pc) and

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