Markets in red, BHEL at fresh 52-week low

The markets continue to trade in the negative territory in the noon deals on the back of selling pressure visible across-the-board. The Sensex was at 16,178, down 193 points and the Nifty was weaker by 58 points at 4,847.

Earlier in the day, the markets opened in the red on back of weak global cues and the Sensex opened at 16,297 and touched an intra-day low of 16,123.

Analysts expect Nifty to re-test the 4,700 levels. According to Nandish Patel, Derivative Analyst with Sharekhan, "November series was trading well at premium but finally got converted to discount & hovering almost flat. It has given a close below volume weighted average price with put to call ratio around 1.02 & sharp rise in implied Volatility indicates bias is negative & 4700 can be tested."

BHEL was the top loser among the Sensex stocks, the stock registered its fresh 52-week low price of Rs 260 in the trades today. Currently the stock was quoting Rs 266, down 3.3%. Bajaj Auto has shed 2.6% at Rs 1,649. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was also trading weaker by 2% at Rs 792 on back of concerns related to falling natural gas output from KG-D6 basin. NTPC, Tata Motors, Sterlite Industries, TCS, ONGC, HDFC Bank, SBI, Bhatrti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Wiprom Hindalco and HDFC were also among the losers, down 1-2.7% each.

On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki, J P Associates, Coal India, Sun Pharma, HUL and DLF were among the notable gainers.

Among the individual stocks, Shares of Orissa Minerals Development Company (OMDC) have shed 5% or Rs 2,156 at Rs 40,435 after the company deferred the proposal of sub-division of its equity shares.

Kingfisher Airlines has added 2% at Rs 24.45 in the morning deals over reports that the government has decided to ask the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to consider picking up 10% stake in the troubled Kingfisher Airlines.

PTC India has rallied 3.3% to Rs 50 after the company stated in a press release that it has recovered almost 100% of its power dues of around Rs 40,000 crore.

All the sectoral indices were trading in the red. BSE Oil & Gas index was the top loser on the sectoral charts, down 1.6% or 135 points at 8,164 levels. Bankex shed 158 points or 1.6% to 10,002 levels. Power, Consumer Durables, Metal, PSU, Auto, IT, Capital Goods and Realty indices were also trading lower by 0.3-1.5% each in trades thus far.

From the oil & gas space, Essar Oil slipped 1.9% to Rs 71. Petronet LNG, Cairn India, Oil India, ONGC, BPCL, HPCL, Indian Oil and Gail India were also trading in the negative zone. Federal Bank, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank and PNB were the top losers among the banking stocks.

The broader markets were also trading in the red. The BSE mid-cap index shed 46 points to 5,670 and the small-cap index was down 29 points at 6,153.

The overall breadth was negative as 1,524 stocks were declining while 951 were advancing.