Markets retreated and ended sharply lower on the back of profit booking, disappointing IIP numbers, and negative European and Asian cues. Sell off was seen in rate sensitives, infrastructure, technology, metal and pharma stocks. Midcap and smallcap stocks were also under selling pressure. Nifty Fifty slipped below 4600 mark.

The Sensex closed at 15,212.13, down 291.79 points or 1.88% after hitting an intraday high of 15,579.78 and low of 15,124.91. Nifty ended with a loss of 68.15 points or 1.47% at 4552.25. It has touched a high/low of 4649.85 and 4525.75, respectively.

IIP numbers have disappointed markets. June industrial growth stands at 5.4% versus 8.9% (YoY) versus 4.1% in May, which was below CNBC-TV18 estimated figure of 5.95%. Electricity, capital goods and basic goods were the key culprits. Electricity growth fell to 2.6% versus 6.8%; Capital goods growth has come down to 5.6% from 23.1% YoY. Infrastructure output number stands at 3.4% versus 5.2% (YoY). May industrial growth has been revised to 4.1% versus 3.8% earlier.

Mridul Sagar, Chief Economist at Kotak Securities, said he sees 7-7.5% GDP growth in FY09. He sees investment demand slowing down, which will put pressure on growth.

While A Prasanna, Chief Economist at ICICI Securities, sees FY09 IIP and GDP, both at 7.5%. He thinks the Reserve Bank of India or the RBI may be over with rate hikes, but not yet with CRR hikes. He believes the RBI is likely to be on hold for now.

Amongst frontliners, Tata Steel plunged 5.71%, Maruti Suzuki -5.23%, Jaiprakash Associates -4.58%, Sterlite Industries -4.46%, HDFC -4.27%, ICICI Bank -4.20% and Infosys Tech -3.98% while BPCL gained 2.05%, Siemens 1.67%, Cairn India 1.30%, ITC 0.98%, Reliance Ind 0.95%, Grasim 0.83% and M&M 0.75%.

Metal index underperformed other indices, down by 475.51 points or 3.62% at 12,660.73. Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Sterlite Ind, JSW Steel, Ispat Industries, Hind Zinc, NALCO, Guj NRE Coke, SAIL and Sesa Goa lost 2-5.7%.

Banking stocks like IDBI Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, PNB and HDFC Bank have tumbled 3.40-5.7%. Index plunged 265.08 points or 3.44% at 7,437.27.

Sell off was also seen in technology stocks like Infosys, NIIT Tech, Mphasis, Wipro, I-Flex Solution, Tech Mahindra, Satyam and TCS. Index lost 110.09 points or 2.84% at 3,771.98.

Telecom stocks like Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, MTNL, TataTeleservice, Reliance Comm and Tata Comm were also under selling pressure.

Realty stocks also got hammered a lot, which include Phoenix Mills, Peninsula Land, HDIL, Indiabulls Real, Unitech, Parsvnath and Mahindra Life. Index closed with a loss of 113.88 points or 1.96% at 5,685.49.

Healthcare index slid 1.48% at 4,235.24 due to selling pressure in Piramal Health, Cipla, Sun Pharma Adv, Cadila Health, Glenmark, Matrix Lab and Ranbaxy Labs.

Auto stocks like Maruti Suzuki, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Bharat Forge and Escorts lost the road. Index was down 1.42% or 57.80 points at 3,999.70.

Capital goods also caught in bears grip, which include Jyoti Structure, Elecon Engg, Lakshmi Machine, AIA Engineering, Havells India, BEML, L&T, and BHEL. Index lost 106.16 points or 0.83% at 12,740.29.

Power Index fell 0.75% at 2,744.01 as selling was seen in Tata Power, Torrent Power, GVK Power, Suzlon Energy, CESC, Power Grid Corp and Reliance Infra.

Oil & Gas Index ended flat at 10,442.28 as BPCL, IOC, Cairn India and Reliance Ind have gained while Aban Offshore, RNRL, Essar Oil, ONGC and Reliance Petro fell. Crude fell below USD 113 per barrel during the day, which was trading at USD 113.56 a barrel, at the time of writing market report.

However, FMCG stocks were on buyers radar in todays trade. This includes GlaxoSmith Cons, United Spirits, Rei Agro and ITC. Index gained 15.22 points or 0.69% at 2,222.15.

BSE Midcap Index was down 47.15 points or 0.79% at 5,935.53 and Small Cap index down by 50.93 points or 0.70% at 7,220.42.

Amongst midcap stocks, KS Oils, Firstsource Sol, Educomp Sol, Phoenix Mills, Peninsula Land, Vishal Retail and BF Utilities slid 5-7%.

In the small cap space, Suraj Stainless, Elpro Int, Indo Tech Trans, FDC, Greenply Ind and Take Solutions lost 6.3-11.5%.

Market breadth was negative; about 1258 shares have advanced while 1708 shares declined. Nearly 195 shares remained unchanged.

Reliance Industries, L&T, Reliance Infra, Infosys and ICICI Bank were most active shares on the bourses.

Turnover traded in markets stood at Rs 72,229.98 crore. This includes Rs 13,910.25 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 52,461.81 crore from NSE F&O and balance Rs 5,857.92 crore from BSE Cash segment.

Asian markets ended weak. Nikkei and Hang Seng fell 1%. Jakarta plunged 3.6%. Straits Times, Shanghai, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted lost 0.25-0.5%.