NEW DELHI: Major auto stocks turned wobbly and veered off track today.

Tata Motors (down 2.15 per cent), Bosch (1.62 per cent), Bajaj Auto (1.29 per cent), MRF (1.15 per cent) and Amara Raja Batteries (1.06 per cent) ran out of gas on Thursday, dragging the sectoral index lower.

The Nifty Auto index weakened 0.35 per cent at 11,380 around 01:20 pm.

Ashok Leyland (down 0.83 per cent), Apollo Tyres (0.73 per cent), Exide Industries (0.38 per cent), Bharat Forge (0.19 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (0.12 per cent) and Maruti Suzuki India (0.09 per cent) were also in the red.

However, Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.92 per cent) and Eicher Motors (0.65 per cent) drove up the road.

Equity benchmarks on their part hit a soft patch as selling in select FMCG, auto, IT, pharma and metal counters picked up.

The NSE Nifty was down 16 points at 10,726 whereas the BSE Sensex tripped 22 points to 35,297.

Among the 50 stocks of the Nifty index, 20 flashed green and 30 red.

ONGC, Bharti Airtel and Zee Entertainment Enterprises were the top gainers of the Nifty group. Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Power Grid Corporation of India and Tata Motors lost big.