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By 1200 hrs, the Sensex was down 99 points at 18,821 and the Nifty is 37 points down at 5,683 after having touched a low of 18,760 levels and 5,664 levels, respectively in intra-day deals.
The broader markets are, however, underperforming the benchmark indices. The BSE Mid-cap index has plunged 1% or 6,258 and the small-cap index is down 1.42% at 6,107.
NHPC, the state-owned power producer, has tanked almost 23% to Rs 19.45 in morning trades, extending its over 10% Friday’s fall, on back of heavy volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Minerals and Metals Trading Corp Ltd (MMTC) has plunged 6.4% to Rs 381 on reports that government is planning to offload its over 9% stake in trading giant through Offer for Sale (OFS).
Shares of metal companies are under pressure on the bourses with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) metal index trading near to its four-year low after mixed data on the US economy and worries about scant demand from top consumer China as well as high inventories levels. Sesa Goa, NMDC and SAIl have declined between 2-4%.
Jet Airways has slipped by 6.5%. Jet Airways has approached the Aviation Ministry to acquire six of the vacant slots, according to sources.
Other notable midcap losers include Indiabulls Power, KSK Energy Ventures, Tube Investments of India, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), Welspun Corp, Pipavav Defence & Offshore Engineering Company and Ybrant Digital, all slipping between 5-6%.
On the gaining side, shares of state-owned oil marking companies (OMC) are trading higher 1-2% after these companies hiked petrol price by Rs 1.40 per litre from Friday midnight.
Among the individual stocks, BPCL is up around 2% at Rs 393, followed by IOC (1.4% at Rs 303) and HPCL (1.3% at Rs 306) on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Colgate Palmolive (India) has surged 5% to Rs 1,370, extending its Friday’s 2.2% gain, in an otherwise weak market after the company said that its board will consider payment of interim dividend for the year 2012-13.
The advance decline ratio in this space is dismal as 209 stocks are declining while 38 are advancing.
