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Benchmark share indices extended losses in noon trades as investors evaded riskier assets amid rising concerns in Ukraine and growth worries in China. Private banks were the top losers after a study by IT giant IBM said that private sector banks in India are at a greater risk of losing their customers on account of non-satisfactory services as compared to public sector banks.
At 1PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 156 points at 21,619 and the 50-share Nifty was down 49 points at 6,445.
Wholesale prices-based inflation eased to a nine-month low of 4.68% in February, helped mainly by moderating food prices, government data showed on Friday. In January, wholesale prices, long seen as India's main inflation measure, rose 5.05%. December WPI inflation was revised to 6.40% from 6.16% earlier.
The rupee hit a one-week low of 61.49 on global woes especially with regards to tensions in Ukraine. The pair was last at 61. versus previous close of 61.17. Further, weakness in equities also dampened sentiment.
Asian markets dropped on Friday amid tensions in Ukraine. Japan's Nikkei slumped 3.3% to end at 14,327 amid a rising yen. Hang Seng was down 0.9%, Shanghai Composite fell 0.8% and Straits Times was trading 0.5% lower.
BSE Bankex was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 1.8% followed by Realty, Capital GOods, FMCG among others.
Among the private sector banks ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were down 1.2-2.4% each contributing the most to the Sensex decline.
Capital goods shares extended losses on profit taking. L&T was down 1.3% and BHEL lost 0.7%.
ITC which has been rising from Rs 330 levels also witnessed profit taking and was down 0.7% at Rs 340. Hindustan Unilever was down 1.5%.
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 0.7%.
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 0.6-1.7% higher.
However, Ranbaxy Laboratories has dipped over 5% after PTI reports suggest that the Supreme Court has issued a notice to the pharmaceutical company and Centre on a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) seeking probe against the company for allegedly supplying adulterated drugs in the country.
In the broader market, BSE Mid-cap index was down 0.6% and Small-cap index was down 0.7%.
Market breadth was weak with 1596 losers and 823 gainers on the BSE.
