Benchmark Indices have extended the losses led by weakness among Oil & Gas, Metal and Banking shares.
By 1300 hrs, the Sensex plunged by 94 points at 18,697, and the Nifty was down 31 points at 5,671 levels. The Sensex and the Nifty have reached an intra-day low of 18,651 levels and 5,674 mark, respectively.
On the global front, Asian markets are also under pressure as markets consolidated gains from a three-day rally, while the euro remained underpinned by easing tension over the euro zone's debt crisis.
Global shares dipped on Thursday, with the U.S. market down on technology stocks, which took a hit from a surprisingly weak earnings result by the world's No.1 Internet search engine Google.
Back home, the rupee recovered marginally today but was still trading 24 paise down at 53.65 a dollar on fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers amid weak equity market.
On the sectoral front, Metal, Oil & Gas, Power, Banks, PSU, Realty and Capital Goods counters are reeling under selling pressure, all slumping by almost 1% each. However, BSE Consumer Durable index is up by nearly 1%.
Metal shares like Jindal Steel, Hindalco and Sterlite Inds melted between 1-2%. Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc reported a 14.5% growth in net profit to Rs 1,539.79 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, largely due to higher volumes of refined lead and silver.
Index heavyweight Reliance Inds has dipped by nearly 1%. Reliance Industries told analysts there has been “no significant improvement in ground-level decision making” which has impacted the business environment. The country’s largest private sector petroleum company has been peeved with the government for blocking of approvals and non-revision of gas prices produced from its underperforming KG-D6 block.
Banking and financial shares like SBI, ICICI Bnak, HDFC and HDFC Bank have plunged by almost 1% each.
Capital Goods shares like L&T and BHEL are down by almost 1% on profit booking after recent gains.
ITC pared gains after hitting record high ahead of its Q2 results.
On the gaining side, Lupin has added 1% to Rs 576 on news that its subsidiary has received American health regulator's approval to market its generic oral contraceptive tablets 'Kurvelo' in the US market.
Among other shares, Strides Arcolab has jumped 3% in noon trades following USFDA nod for 2 ANDAs.
Shares of companies engaged in gems and jewellery business have rallied on back of heavy volumes in otherwise weak market on hopes of higher demand in festive season.
Shree Ganesh Jewellery House, Gitanajli Gems, Titan Industries, Tribuhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ), Thangamayil Jewellery and Renaissance Jewellery have rallied up to 10% on the BSE compare tot 0.34% fall in the benchmark Sensex at 1127 hours.
The market breadth in BSE remains weak with 1040 shares declining and 1648 shares advancing.