Weak start to last week of the year; Sensex sheds 45 points

Hectic selling in blue chips like Sterlite Industries and RIL, and weak opening of European bourses saw stock markets reversing early gains, with the BSE benchmark Sensex plunging nearly 45 points.

After maintaining last session's winning momentum in the early trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange bellwether Sensex slipped 44.73 points or 0.22% to settle at 20,028.93.

The National Stock Exchange's wide based Nifty too saw a similar trend and finished the day at 5,998.10, down 0.22% or 13.50 points from the previous close.

Marketmen attributed the weakness in the street to thin trading by the FIIs in view of the holiday season and lack of clear direction towards the year-end.

"Street is lacklustre with low volumes and is likely to remain so during the rest of the week. We can see any smart movement only in the new year with fresh buying from FIIs and the retail investors," CNI Research CMD Kishore P Ostwal said.

Meltdown in the major metal stocks weighed heavily on the broader gauge. A plunge of 3 per cent in the heavy weight Sterlite Industries and 1.44% fall in Tata Steel saw the metal index slip over 214 points to become the worst sectoral performer.

"Metal stocks fell after Chinese central bank raised official lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points on the Christmas Day, in a view that if China tries to slow down growth, that will reduce demand for resources," said an expert.

The country's most valued firm Reliance Industries also spoilt the party with a fall of 0.42%.

Profit-booking in the Anil Ambani led telecom giant Reliance Communications snapped the last session's over 10% gain. The scrip was the biggest laggard in the 30-share benchmark with a loss of 3.56%. Its rival Bharti Airtel too plummeted by 1.98%.

Eleven of the 30 Sensex components ended the day on a positive note with heavy weights ICICI Bank and Infosys Technologies offsetting overall losses to some extent. While the former gained by 0.45%, the latter advanced by 0.30%.

Among the other major gainers were - Cipla (1.47%), Tata Power (0.81%) and Bajaj Auto (0.64%).

Globally, China's Shanghai ended lower for the fourth consecutive session, shedding 1.90% led by heavyweight banks on concerns that the interest rate increase over the weekend, and possible further tightening measures, could significantly slow lending growth.

European markets were also trading subdued in the afternoon session.