Markets overcome Bihar hangover; Nifty ends above 7,900-mark

The S&P BSE Sensex pared much of day's losses owing to banking and auto stocks and ended the day 144 points down after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government faced a crushing defeat in Bihar elections raising concerns the government would struggle to pass policy reforms.

Sensex settled above its crucial psychological level of 26,000, while broader CNX Nifty closed at 7,915.20, down 39.10 points. The index tested 7,800 mark earlier in the day.

Market breadth remained negative with 20 of the 30 Sensex stocks ending the day in red.

Sun Pharma was the worst performer on both the indices and settled the day 5.8 per cent lower on BSE after the pharma major reported a 46.02 per cent dip in its consolidated net profit to Rs 1,106.66 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 due to lower sales growth, volatile currency movements and supply constraints.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices through the day, with the BSE midcap and BSE smallcap indices closing 0.42 per cent and 0.78 per cent higher, respectively.

Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite ended 1.58 per cent higher, Hong Kong's Hang Seng saw a downtick of 0.61 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei added 1.96 per cent at close.

On Friday, US stocks ended higher after the jobs report showed the economy added 271,000 jobs in October, largest monthly gain this year.

Lowdown on markets today

03:05 pm

Sensex at 26,166.93, down 98.31 points

Nifty at 7,856.30, down 98 points

01:00 pm

Sensex at 25965.87, down 299 points

Nifty at 7865.20, down 89 points

10:52 am

Sensex at 25,954.53, down 310.71 points

Nifty at 7,856.30, down 98 points

9:30 am

Sensex at 25,809, down 456.24 points

Nifty at 7,824.50, down 129.80 points