Sensex ends lower; heavyweight ITC leads decline

Markets ended the day lower today on sustained selling pressure, with index heavyweight ITC dragging the markets lower. The Sensex closed the day lower by 70 points, while the S&P CNX Nifty ended down by 17.40 points, at 5362 points.

Shares of cigarette to hotel maker ITC, dipped more than 3% on fears that domestic regulatory hurdles could affect profitability, after reports that Australian court had approved logo ban on tobacco packs. Hindalco lost more than 2% today after the company reported a poor set of numbers for Q1 2013. Other shares that lost ground amongst the S&P CNX Nifty were Sterlite Industries and GAIL.

Reliance Industries saw a sharp gain of more than 2% today on sustained buying. A Reuters report has said that Goldman Sachs believes Reliance Industries can potentially become a USD 100 billion stock by fiscal 2017 from its current market capitalisation of around USD 46.6 billion.

Other shares that gained in trade today were Hero MotorCorp, Mahindra and Mahindra and HDFC.

Meanwhile, shares in Europe were trading steady with a slight negative bias. Markets there are eagerly awaiting some form of stimulus measures to propel them. The German DAX, the French CAC and UK's FTSE were all down marginally in trade today.

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