The markets continue to trade lower in the afternoon trades with the Sensex down 121 points at 18,373 and the Nifty dropped 37 points at 5,518. However, continuing yesterday's trend the broader markets held forth. The smallcap index is flat with a positive bias while the midcap index is down 0.2%, both outperforming the BSE benchmark index, down 0.6%
Earlier the day, the markets opened lower tracking weak Asian peers after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's statement that US economy was growing very slowly. Thereafter key benchmark indices trimmed losses to touch a high of 18,505. However, due to the weakness in index index heavyweights RIL and ONGC the markets slipped and dropped sharply in the afternoon trades to touch a low of 18,366, down 139 points from the day's high.
Among the sectoral indices, Realty and Health care indices down 1% are the major laggards followed by Bankex, Metal and Oil & Gas indices. On the other hand, FMCG index has added nearly 0.8% while Consumer Durables index is flat with a positive bias.
The top gainers among the Sensex stocks are Reliance Communication, ITC and NTPC up 1% each followed by Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and HUL adding 0.2% each.
Hero Honda, ONGC and Hindalco down 2% each are the top Sensex losers. Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, Jaiprakash Associates, Bajaj Auto and Cipla down 1% each are the other notable losers.
The market breadth is negative. Of the total 2893 stocks traded on the BSE, 1465 stocks have declined while 1308 advanced.
