Sensex falls by 116 pts on weak global cues

The 30-share BSE index fell by 116.25 points to close at 18,050.78 points. The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 33.80 points to 5,418.30 points.

Brokers said trading sentiment turned bearish after RCom posted poor quarter earnings, followed by Suzlon Energy. The down-trend further worsened on reports of mixed trend in Asian stock markets and a lower opening in Europe.

Profit booking in metal, realty and banking stocks, led by ICICI Bank and State Bank of India, forced the the barometer close in the red, they added.

Private lender ICICI Bank closed 1.89 per cent down at Rs 957, while state-run banking giant SBI fell by a little over 1 per cent at Rs 2,820.25 after a recent run up.

Anil Ambani group firm RCom fell by 2.74 per cent to Rs 163.50 after it reported poor Q1 results.

In 30-BSE index components, 23 stocks closed with losses while seven posted gains. The Metal sector index suffered the most by 1.50 per cent to 15,108.22 followed by the realty sector index which closed lower by 1.09 per cent at 3,635.07 points.

Among Asian markets, Tokyo closed 0.61 per cent lower on weak economic data, while Singapore closed down by 0.22 per cent. Hong Kong closed marginally higher by 0.19 per cent.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index fell by 0.25 per cent in London,  Frankfurt's DAX 30 slipped 0.15 per cent, while the CAC 40 index in Paris declined 0.73 per cent after poor Japanese economic data raised fears over weak global economic recovery.