Markets continue to trade in red

Auto shares gain in late-morning deals

Markets continued to trade with a negative bias. The Sensex is down 42 points at 17,462. Nifty is down nine points at 5,323.

Bourses in Asia dropped as the US labour market data showed signs of weakness. Japan's Nikkei contiued to slip and was down 0.5 per cent at 9,545. Taiwan Weighted and Seoul Composite also dipped over 1% in red.

BSE oil & gas index has dipped 0.5% to 8,009 dragged by heavyweight - Reliance. The market heavyweight is set to announce its quarterly numbers later today. Reliance is the biggest loser among Sensex stocks - down 1% at Rs 734.

Coal India has dropped 1%, followed by Hindustan Unilever, Tata Power and BHEL.

Realty and banking shares are also showing some weakness. ICICI Bank has dropped 0.6% at Rs 872. SBI and HDFC Bank are also in red.

Meanwhile, Mahindra & Mahindra has added 2.2% to Rs 722. Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp from the auto space have gained in late morning deals. Among other gainers are Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Cipla and Infosys.

Among idividual stocks, Ambuja Cements has dipped 2.6% to Rs 160 after announcing the results. The company's profitability fell by 23 per cent to Rs 312 crore, compared to Rs 407 crore in the year-ago quarter. Net sales rose 19 per cent to Rs 2,633 crore, from Rs 2,213 crore.

BSE market breadth is marginally positive. Out of 2,430 shares traded, 1,242 shares have advanced while 1,100 shares have declined.