Markets remain under pressure

Markets continue to reel under the selling pressure in the noon deals. The Sensex has shed 186 points to 17,565 and the 50-share Nifty is down 54 points at 5,331.

According to Ravi Nathani, Technical analyst, Nsetoday.com, "Nifty is looking positive on charts with support expected at 5,270 and 5,250 levels."

Meanwhile on the macro-economic front, country's January exports rose 10.1% to $25.347 billion, while imports rose 20.3% to $40.1 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $14.8 billion, the government said today.

The Asian markets were also trading lower. The Nikkei was down 16 points at 9,707, Hang Seng shed 268 points at 21,412. Shanghai and Taiwan trading marginally lower.

Back home, BHEL has also shed 3% to Rs 298 after the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) decided to break its ties with public-sector company for implementing the Rs 8,000 crore Udangudi Power Project in Tamil Nadu. The state government alleged that the project was delayed for four years and one of the main reasons was BHEL.

DLF is also trading lower by 3.5% at Rs 218. L&T, ICICI Bank, Wipro, Bajaj Auto, Infosys, NTPC, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra and SBI are also among the laggards.

On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki has jumped 4% to Rs 1,306 on reporting highest car sales numbers in past nine months for the month of February. The country's largest car maker has reported a 6.5% year-on-year rise in February car sales at 118,949 units as compared to 111,645 units in the same month last year.

Coal India has also added over 1% to Rs 337 on reports that the Union Cabinet today allowed the cash-rich PSUs to buyback shares. Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Power, Cipla, Hindalco and HUL are also among the notable gainers.

Realty, capital goods and banking stocks are amongst the worst hit in trades today. The BSE Realty index is down 2.4% or 47 points at 1,908 levels. DB Realty, Oberoi Realty, HDIL, Sobha Developers, Anant Raj Industries and Prestige Estates are among the top losers from this space.

Capital Goods index is down nearly 2% or 194 points at 10,232 and the BSE banking index- Bankex is down 1.4% or 167 points at 11,806 levels.

Consumer durables, oil & Gas IT, power, FMCG, metal and auto stocks are also facing the heat of selling pressure.

At the same time, some bit of buying is visible in the healthcare and PSU stocks.

Among the individual stocks, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is trading higher 8% at Rs 34.90 on reports that the state-run telecom company is in the process of appointing a consultant for formulating the future plan of action for its CDMA business. The plan may include closing down its operations in the segment.

The broader markets are also treading marginally lower. The BSE mid-cap index is down 15 points at 6,372 levels and the small-cap index has shed 9 points at 6,850 levels.

The overall breadth is negative as 1,384 stocks are declining while 1,139 are advancing.