Sensex ends 115 pts down

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed the session down 115.13 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 28,071.93. The broader 50-share Nifty barometer settled the trading session at 8,516.90, down 26.15 points, or 0.31 per cent. 18 of the 30 Sensex stocks ended the day in the red. The sentiment got hurt after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained status quo, keeping the short-term lending rate, or repo rate, unchanged at 7.25 per cent, in its bi-monthly policy review today. Weakness seen in European shares too added to the sentiment. Hero MotoCorp remained the top loser on the Sensex pack. Tata Steel was the top gainer, up over 4 per cent. The BSE Realty index settled the day 0.18 per cent lower. Unitech dropped 3.4 per cent, followed by DLF, HDIL and Sobha, which tumbled 2.6 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively. Axis Bank and ICICI bank fell up to 0.50 per cent. Banking stocks IndusInd BankBSE -1.79 %, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra BankBSE 0.24 % declined up to 2.7 per cent. Among auto stocks, Tata Motors fell 2.3 per cent. Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj AutoBSE 0.25 % fell up to 1.5 per cent, according to a news agency.

-SRS