Sensex closes down 102 points

A 2.54 per cent rise in Maruti Suzuki,saved the market from a steeper fall. IT stocks Infosys and TCS also ended up helping avert a major slump in the market. European car maker Volkswagen’s plans to buy 19.9 per cent stake Japanese Suzuki for USD 2.5 billion make Maruti attractive to investors.

Maruti Suzuki India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suzuki.

Both Reliance Industries and Tata Steel,which in the last session rose,came under pressure. While RIL closed down by less than 1 per cent,Tata Steel was the biggest loser at 4.17 per cent.

Metal stocks Hindalco and Sterlite at 3.04 per cent and 2.98 per cent were the other big Sensex losers Banking shares were the other big casualty with their sectoral index ending down by 1.58 per cent. Mortgage leader HDFC and private sector lender HDFC Bank settled lower by 2.30 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.

In the 30-BSE index-linked kitty,17 stocks closed with losses while 13 ended with gains.

Wider National Stock Exchange index Nifty also fell by 35.95 points,or 0.70 per cent to 5,112.00.

Weak trends in Asia and lower opening in Europe also weighed against the sentiment.

The metal sector suffered the most by losing 2.09 per cent to 16,315.68 on reports of a down-trend in base metal prices in the London Metal Exchange.

The Banking sector index was second worst performer,shedding 1.58 per cent to 10,155.11 after stocks of ICICI Bank,State Bank of India and HDFC Bank recorded heavy losses.

HDFC Bank led pack the lenders going southward as Fitch cut Greece’s credit rating,denting confidence in the global economic recovery.