The markets continue to trade in the negative territory after slipping in the early afternoon trades. The Sensex touched the day's low thus far at 18,539, down 226 points from the day's high. Currently the BSE benchmark index is down 75 points at 18,578 while the Nifty lost 24 points at 5,588 shrugging off the positive European market opening.
In the broader markets, the midcap index fell in line with the Sensex, down 0.4% each underperforming as compared to the smallcap index which is up 0.1%.
On the other hand, the European markets opened higher. CAC is up1% while DAX and FTSE added 0.5% each.
FMCG and Realty up 0.6% and 0.1% respectively are the only indices in the positive range. Health Care, Power and IT indices down 1% each are the top losers among the sectoral indices.
Realty major, DLF up nearly 2% followed by FMCG giant, ITC up 1% are the top gainers among the Sensex stocks. Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever and Sterlite Industries gaining 0.3-0.4% are the other gainers.
Wipro continues to slide in the afternoon trades; down 4% is the top loser among the Sensex stocks. Hindalco, Jaiprakash Associates, Hero Honda, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Cipla down 1% each are the other notable losers.
The market breadth is very negative. 1506 stocks declined as compared to 1233 advances.