Slide in the market continues as most of the stocks are under the grip of sustained selling pressure. While cement, auto and banking stocks have tumbled sharply, buying remains stock-specific. The Sensex is down 60 points at 6,113, and the Nifty has lost 18 points to 1,909.Heavyweight, banking and tech stocks have shed more ground in mid-noon trades. Reliance has inched lower by 1.42% (Rs 7) to Rs 506. ITC's upward trend continues, and the counter has zoomed 10.31% (Rs 128) to Rs 1,369. HLL is still up a notch at Rs 142.SBI at Rs 569 (down Rs 12 or 2%), ICICI Bank at Rs 341 (down Rs 10 or 2.79%) and HDFC Bank at Rs 512 (down Rs 7 or 1.26%) are reeling under selling pressure.Wipro has slumped nearly 3% (Rs 19) to Rs 669. While Satyam has lost 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 351. Infosys is down Rs 8 at Rs 1,948.Cement majors have slipped deep into the red. ACC, on volumes of over 45.38 lakh, has tumbled 6% (Rs 22) to Rs 343 on reports of Holcim and Gujarat Ambuja making an open offer at Rs 370 per share. While Gujarat Ambuja has tanked 5.47% (Rs 24) to Rs 421, Grasim has declined 1.34% (Rs 17) to Rs 1,266.Other cement counters, too, have slipped sharply. While Ambuja Cement Eastern has tanked 10% (Rs 8) to Rs 69, India Cement has shed 5.45% (Rs 3) to Rs 59.Bharti has crashed 6.57% (Rs 14) to Rs 198. While BHEL has slumped 2.68% (Rs 19) to Rs 675, HDFC has shed 2.10% (Rs 16) to Rs 759.Zee has tumbled 2.83% (Rs 4) to Rs 149. While Tata Power has declined 3.35% (Rs 12) to Rs 357, Tisco is down 1.79% (Rs 6) at Rs 342. Over 28.95 lakh Tisco shares have changed hands on the BSE so far.Metal stocks have come under sustained selling pressure. Essar Steel has lost 6% to Rs 31. While Man Industries has shed 5.17% to Rs 94, Mukand Iron & Steel has declined 4.74% to Rs 40. PSL, Jindal Iron & Steel, Saw Pipes, Tata Metals and Sesa Goa are trading lower in a range of 3-5%.MTNL, however, continues to trade firm at Rs 140 on a volume of over 22.27 lakh on BSE.
