With stocks from across several sectors reeling under sustained selling pressure, the key indices Sensex and the Nifty50 are down sharply in the red and look headed for a dismal close today.
The mood is quite bearish in the market following a sell-off in the Asia-Pacific region, where markets in Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and Singapore declined 1% - 2.3%, and those in Shanghai, Malaysia, South Korea, New Zealand and Taiwan ended 0.3% - 0.7% down. The Indonesian market edged down marginally.
Among major European markets, France, Germany and the U.K. are down 0.7% - 1%.
The Sensex is now down 310.85 points or 1.05% at 29,174.60, off the day's low of 29,137.48. The Nifty50, which declined to 9019.30, is now at 9030.30, down 91.20 points or 1% from its previous close.
Mirroring widespread selling, all the sectoral indices are down in negative territory. The Consumer Durables and Telecom indices are down 2.4% and 2%, respectively. The Auto, Bankex, Capital Goods, Metal and Power indices are lower by 1% - 1.7%. BSE Healthcare, IT, Oil & Gas and Realty indices are modestly lower.
Besides several large cap stocks, scores of midcap and smallcap stocks are down with sharp losses. The market breadth is very weak.
Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, ITC and Hindalco are down 2% - 3.1%. BHEL is down nearly 2%. ACC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ambuja Cements, Eicher Motors, State Bank of India and Idea Cellular are down by around 1.7%.
Bajaj Auto, Aurobindo Pharma, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, Asian Paints and ONGC are also notably lower.
HCL Technologies is gaining about 1.5%. Lupin, BPCL, Wipro, Cipla, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Kotak Bank are modestly higher.
Fiberweb is gaining more than 6% after the company announced that it will supply its products to US-based retail giant Wal-Mart.
