The benchmark indices are in a precarious situation this afternoon on the back of relentless selling in the index heavyweights. The Sensex is at 17549, lower by 349 points and the Nifty is at 5269, down 96 points. All the sectoral indices are in the red, with realty, oil and power stocks witnessing the most selling pressure.
There was bloodbath on the Street midway through the morning session, with the Sensex tumbling as much as 600 points at one point, on reports that tax treaty talks between India and Mauritius are likely to resume soon. A clarification by Finance ministry sources to the effect that timeline on the talks was yet to be decided led to a smart recoverery from the day's lows and the markets have been hovering thereabout since.
There was no solace on the global front either. The Asian markets were mixed, with the Hang Seng, Seoul and Taiwan shaving off around a percent each and the Nikkei and Straits Times edging higher. The European markets have also opened in the red, with the FTSE, DAX and CAC losing more than percent in continuation of their seven-week slide after the Eurozone finance ministers delayed a final decision on emergency loans to Greece.
ADAG stocks, Reliance Communications (weaker by 7.7% at Rs 87) and Reliance Infrastructure (down 6.6% at Rs 542) continue to top the losers list on the bourses after being excluded from the Sensex with effect from August 8. The shares of information technology (IT) companies are trading lower for the fourth straight day on fears that Greece's debt crisis and a slowing global economy will affect the revenue growth of the sector. TCS has weakened by 3.2% at Rs 1074, wipro has shed 2.3% at Rs 399 and Infosys Technologies has shed 1.8% at Rs 2713. Infact, Infosys, ONGC, Reliance Industries, BEML and Aban Offshore are among the frontline stocks that have hit 52-week lows on the BSE.
Among the stocks to buck the trend, Bharti Airtel rebounded by 2.5% at Rs 390 post its May subscriber numbers and Hero Honda gained 0.4% at Rs 1737.
The overall breadth is extremely negative; 2260 stocks have declined, while a mere 479 have advanced.