 "Markets surge; Nifty above 6,500")
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(Updtaed at 1510 hrs)
Markets continue to struggle in the negative territory as investors evaded riskier assets amid rising concerns in Ukraine and growth worries in China. Private Banks were the top losers of the hour.
At 1410 hrs, the Sensex was down 154 points at 21,619 and the Nifty slipped 47 points to trade at 6,446.
In the broader markets, both the mid and smallcap indices gave off 0.7% each, in line with the BSE benchmark index.
Meanwhile, there was some positive on the macro front as the wholesale price-based inflation eased to a nine-month low in February as food and fuel prices moderated, raising expectations that the RBI would leave interest rates unchanged at its policy review next month.
The wholesale price index (WPI), long regarded as India's main inflation measure, rose 4.68% last month, data showed on Friday, compared with a 4.99% jump forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.
Global Markets
Asian shares dropped to a one-month low and the yen pushed higher on Friday, as heightened tension in Ukraine ahead of a weekend referendum sent investors scurrying out of riskier assets.
European shares opened lower, putting major regional indexes on course for their worst weekly loss since January. Britain's FTSE was down 0.4%, Germany's DAX was off 0.7% and France's CAC 40 slipped as much as 0.5%.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.4%, touching its lowest level since mid-February and on track for a weekly loss of more than 3%.
Japan's Nikkei stock average skidded 3.3% to a one-month low, as the yen soared. For the week, the index dropped 6.2%, the biggest weekly drop since last June.
Sectors & Stocks
Among the sectoral indices, Health Care index up 0.7% was the only index in the green.
BSE Bankex was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 2% followed by Capital Goods, Consumer Durables down 1% each.
Among the private sector banks ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were down 2-3% contributing the most to the Sensex decline.
Capital goods shares extended losses on profit taking. L&T was down 1.4% and BHEL lost 0.7%.
ITC which has been rising from Rs 330 levels also witnessed profit taking and was down 0.07% at Rs 343. Hindustan Unilever was down 1.4%.
Other Sensex losers include, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries.
Infosys which had slumped yesterday on reports it expects sluggish growth in January-March (Q4FY2014) quarter mainly due to muted spending by clients rebounded today and was up 0.6%.
Dr Reddy's Labs and Sun Pharma which had corrected recently on recall of drugs and import alert from USFDA also firmed up and were trading 1% higher.
Market breadth was weak with 1,662 losers and 908 gainers on the BSE.