Markets continue to remain under the selling pressure with index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel leading the downslide. At 11:15 AM, the Sensex was at 17,030, down 204 points and the Nifty was down 64 points at 5,141.
On the global front, Asian stocks slumped for the first time in four days before a meeting of Europe's leaders to discuss the euro-zone sovereign-debt crisis. Hang Seng, Kospi, Nikkei and Strait Times have fallen by almost 1% each. However, Taiwan Index has gained by nearly 3%.
Back home, index heavyweight RIL is down 1% after three straight days of gains last week triggered by the company announcing share buyback schedule. RIL announced that its share buyback programme will begin on 1 February 2012 and close on 19 January 2013.
From the banking and financial space, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have plunged 2% each. HDFC is down by over 1%.
Capital goods majors L&T and BHEL have tumbled between 2-8%. BHEL has slumped nearly 8% after reporting a 7% year-on-year (y-o-y) drop in order inflows at Rs 146,500 crore at the end of December 2011 quarter. The state-owned heavy electrical equipment makers had an order book position of Rs 158,000 crore as on December 2010.
Infosys from the IT space has declined by nearly 1%.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel is down by over 3%.
From the Metal segment, Sterlite, Hindalco, Tata Steel and Coal India have fallen between 1-3%.
Among Auto pack, M&M and Tata Motors have slipped by almost 2% each.
The broader markets are absolutely flat.
Essar Oil has plunged 5% as Gujarat government asks company to pay Rs 8,011 cr its outstanding sales tax and VAT at the earliest.
However, Shree Renuka Sugar, Bajaj Hindusthan, NFL and RCF are up between 4-5%. Sugar stocks are in focus as the Prime Minister has constituted an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, to examine issues relating to the sugar sector.
Tilaknagar Industries has gained 4% after the company said it has recently unveiled Mansion House Whisky in Mumbai.
The overall market breadth in BSE remains marginally negative with 1,096 shares advancing and 1127 shares declining.