Cement, banking stocks hammered

Slide in the market continues as most of the stocks are under the grip of sustained selling pressure. While cement, auto and banking stocks have tumbled sharply, buying remains stock-specific.

The Sensex is down 60 points at 6,113, and the Nifty has lost 18 points to 1,909.

Heavyweight, banking and tech stocks have shed more ground in mid-noon trades.

Reliance has inched lower by 1.42% (Rs 7) to Rs 506. ITC's upward trend continues, and the counter has zoomed 10.31% (Rs 128) to Rs 1,369. HLL is still up a notch at Rs 142.

SBI at Rs 569 (down Rs 12 or 2%), ICICI Bank at Rs 341 (down Rs 10 or 2.79%) and HDFC Bank at Rs 512 (down Rs 7 or 1.26%) are reeling under selling pressure.

Wipro has slumped nearly 3% (Rs 19) to Rs 669. While Satyam has lost 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 351. Infosys is down Rs 8 at Rs 1,948.

Cement majors have slipped deep into the red. ACC, on volumes of over 45.38 lakh, has tumbled 6% (Rs 22) to Rs 343 on reports of Holcim and Gujarat Ambuja making an open offer at Rs 370 per share. While Gujarat Ambuja has tanked 5.47% (Rs 24) to Rs 421, Grasim has declined 1.34% (Rs 17) to Rs 1,266.

Other cement counters, too, have slipped sharply. While Ambuja Cement Eastern has tanked 10% (Rs 8) to Rs 69, India Cement has shed 5.45% (Rs 3) to Rs 59.

Bharti has crashed 6.57% (Rs 14) to Rs 198. While BHEL has slumped 2.68% (Rs 19) to Rs 675, HDFC has shed 2.10% (Rs 16) to Rs 759.

Zee has tumbled 2.83% (Rs 4) to Rs 149. While Tata Power has declined 3.35% (Rs 12) to Rs 357, Tisco is down 1.79% (Rs 6) at Rs 342. Over 28.95 lakh Tisco shares have changed hands on the BSE so far.

Metal stocks have come under sustained selling pressure. Essar Steel has lost 6% to Rs 31. While Man Industries has shed 5.17% to Rs 94, Mukand Iron & Steel has declined 4.74% to Rs 40. PSL, Jindal Iron & Steel, Saw Pipes, Tata Metals and Sesa Goa are trading lower in a range of 3-5%.

MTNL, however, continues to trade firm at Rs 140 on a volume of over 22.27 lakh on BSE.