BSE Small-cap index down 1%, Suzlon slumps

Markets have extended yesterday’s losses led by weakness among IT and Auto shares. Asian shares also eased on Friday with investors turning cautious as weak euro zone growth data presaged the G20 meeting in this session and on Saturday in Moscow.

By 1207 hrs, the Sensex was down 67 points at 19,431 and the Nifty is 25 points down at 5,872 after having touched a low of 19,399 levels and 5,863 levels, respectively in intra-day deals.

The broader markets continue to under perform the benchmark indices in noon deals today. The BSE Mid-cap index has declined 0.4% at 6,580 and the small-cap index is down 0.97% at 6,519. Both the Sensex and the Nifty have dropped between 0.3-0.4%.

Among the key mid-cap losers, Suzlon Energy is the top Mid cap loser, down 10% to Rs 21.20 after reporting its biggest ever quarterly loss of Rs 1,155 crore for the third quarter ended December 2012 (Q3) due to liquidity constraints. The wind turbine maker had suffered loss of Rs 302 crore in a year ago quarter.

Power Grid Corporation of India declined 1.37% to Rs 104.40 at 11:13 IST on BSE as the stock turned ex-dividend today, 15 February 2013, for an interim dividend of Rs 1.61 per share for the year ending 31 March 2013.

Other notable losers include IRB Infrastructure Developers, BGR Energy Systems, Shipping Corporation of India, Balkrishna Industries, PTC India, KSK Energy Ventures, all declining between 3-5%.

On the gaining side, United Breweries is trading higher by over 4% to Rs 679 after falling 15% in past six trading sessions on clarification that brand "Kingfisher" has not been hypothecated or pledged by company to any lender to secure its loans and no shares of the company are pledged to the lenders of Kingfisher Airlines.

The overall breadth of the BSE mid-cap index remains firm as 172 stocks are declining while 71 are advancing.