The Indian stock market was the best performer among Asian markets today. Though it traded in the negative terrain throughout the day, it witnessed a strong pullback in the afternoon. The Sensex closed at 18,737, down 170 points from the previous close. Nifty shut shop at 5617, down 46 points. The NSE 50-share index touched an intra-day low of 5477 today. The BSE FMCG index was the only sectoral index to trade in the positive zone today, led by ITC (up 5.3%) and Hindustan Lever (up 2.9%). Top Sensex gainers included NTPC, SBI, Cipla, Hindalco and Ambuja Cements, while losers included ONGC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Infosys and Satyam.

Mkts still in red but off lows: ONGC, BHEL plunge

The markets are still in red but have shown marginal recovery and are off day's low. European markets have opened flat to negative without any sharp cuts which has helped the markets to gain some ground.

Selling pressure is seen in scrips across sectors. This has been triggered by the weak cues from the global markets as US mkts ended in red on account of credit concern leading to the decline in the Asian peers.

However, frontliners that had seen a sharp run up have taken it on their chin have underperformed the broader markets. The midcap and smallcap indices are down nearly 2%. Market breadth has been extremely weak since opening today.

At 13.51 hrs IST, the Sensex is down 347.72 points or 1.84% at 18559.88, and the Nifty down 116.50 points or 2.06% at 5546.75.

About 992 shares have advanced, 1996 shares declined, and 77 shares are unchanged.

All the BSE sector indices are trading in red. Realty, metal, oil & gas, power stocks are the worst hit each down over 3%.

Top gainers on the Sensex are ITC up 4%, SBI up over 3%, Hindalco up 1.6% and HUL up 2%.

Top losers on the Sensex are ONGC down over 5%, BHEL & HDFC Bank down 5%, Bharti Airtel is down over 4% and Reliance Comm down over 3%.

Top losers on the Nifty are Sterlite Ind and Tata Power down over 5%.

Most active shares on NSE are Reliance at Rs 2,616 with 718,207 shares, Reliance Natural at Rs 140.15 with 12,275,766 shares and Reliance Petroleum at Rs 213.65 with 7,861,974 shares.