Markets remain weak

Markets continue to remain under the selling pressure in the noon deals The Sensex is down 315 points at 16,172 and the Nifty is down 89 points at 4,855. The markets witnessed a gap down opening on back of negative global cues.

According to Salil Sharma, technical analyst and partner with kapursharma.com, "The Nifty has opened with a gap down because the closing yesterday was very weak and at the lowest level. The closing yesterday was bearish because it was much below the 20 and 50 DMA of the Nifty at 4955 and 5016 respectively. I had mentioned last week that the international events have overtaken the technicals and the same holds true even today. Broadly speaking the Nifty range is 4700 - 5100 and it could remain so for some months."

Sterlite Industries is the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 4% to Rs 100. Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, J P Associates, BHEL, Larsen & Toubro Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries are also trading lower by 2.6-3.6% each.

On the other hand, NTPC and Coal India are among the notrable gainers.

Among the individual stocks, Aviation shares witnessed selling pressure on the bourses with all three listed companies – Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet sliding more than 5% each on service tax payment issues.

Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) has gained 2% at Rs 293 after the news that the company is looking to buy crude from sanctions-hit Syria and has asked state-run Shipping Corp of India (SCI) to arrange a vessel, sources said on Wednesday.

Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services has rallied 10% to Rs 17.80 after the board of directors of the company approved the sale of its entire stake in a joint venture company to BNP Paribas SA for Rs 40.50 crore.

Selling pressure is visible across the board. Auto, capital goods and metal stocks are amongst the worst hit in trades thus far. BSE Auto index has slipped 2.8% to 8,474 levels, Capital Goods and Metal indices have also shed 2.7 and 2% each respectively.

Oil & Gas, Realty, Babnkex, PSU, FMCG and IT indices are also trading lower by 1-2% each.

From the auto space, Bajaj Auto is the top loser. The stock has shed 3.8% to Rs 1,663. Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Forge, Exide Industries, Ashok Lelyland and Apollo Tyres are also down 1.5-3.7% each.

BGR Energy is the top loser among the capital goods stocks. Crompton Greaves, BHEL, Larsen & Toubro, Usha Martin, Suzlon BEML and ABB are also among the prominent losers.

The broader markets are also trading lower The BSE mid and small-cap indices are 1% each.

The overall breadth is extremely negative as 1,717 stocks are declining while 750 are advancing