Markets have extended losses in the early noon deals on the back of profit booking visible in the heavyweight stocks. The Sensex has slipped 207 points to 18,848 and the 50-share Nifty is down 71 points at 5,715.
The Asian markets are trading on a flat note. Nikkei has jumped 22 points or 0.2% to 8,846, Hang Seng is up 0.3% at 20,977 and the Seoul Composite is up 0.2% at 1,997.
Back home, HDFC is the top Sensex loser. The stock has slipped 4.5% to Rs 725. Reports suggest that multiple block deals have taken place on the counter. The stock has seen a combined 64.55 million shares changing hands on the counter in opening trades on both the exchanges. The name of the buyers and sellers are not immediately known. According to reports, global private equity major, Carlyle Group, offloaded its 3.71% residual stake in the housing finance major for about $850 million (about Rs 4,500 crore).
Wipro, NTPC, Sun Pharma, BHEL, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, TCS, Infosys, Tata Steel and SBI are also trading on a weak note down 1-3% each.
On the other hand, Tata Motors, HUL, Cooal India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki are among the notable gainers.
Selling pressure is visible across the board. Realty, power and IT stocks are amongst the worst hit. The BSE realty index has slipped 2.3% or 44 points to 1,900. Power, IT, healthcare, bankex, PSU, capital goods, meatal and consumer durable indices are down 0.8-1.8% each. While, auto and FMCG indices are marginally up.
Among the individual stocks, Adani Power has dipped 5% to Rs 52.70 on reports that the promoter plans to sell part of its holding through the stock exchange mechanism on Monday, October 8.
IVRCL has tanked 8% to Rs 44, extending its previous day’s 6% fall, after Essel Group sold more than 5% stake in the infrastructure company through open market transaction for Rs 68 crore on Thursday.
The broader markets are also trading on a weak note. the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices are down 1.5% each.
The overall breadth is extremely negative as 1,834 stocks are declining while 667 are advancing.
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