Markets extend losses

Markets extended losses in late-morning trades. Sensex dipped to a low of 19,951 on continued weakness in auto stocks. Consumer durables and metal stocks lost ground further.

At 11:30am, Sensex was down 185 points (1%) at 19,999, while the Nifty dipped 56 points at 5,992. Hindalco was the biggest loser in the BSE 30 pack, followed by HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Reliance and DLF.

On the sectoral front, the BSE auto index dropped 2.2% at 9,581 with heavy losses in M&M (down 3.6% at Rs 742), Ashok Leyland (down 3.5% to Rs 63). Tata Motors slipped 2.6% at Rs 1,225. Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki and Hero Honda slipped 1% each in trades.

Weakness was also in most metal counters with the BSE Metal index skidding 1.8% to 17,326. Bankex however, managed to recover some losses and was down 0.7% at 12,598.

_______________________________________________________
(Updated at 1035 hrs)

Markets dropped sharply in mid-morning trades on weakness in auto and metal stocks.

Sensex touched a low of 20,066 and was down 92 points at 20,092. Earlier in the day, the benchmark touched a high of 20,211.

Nifty dipped 33 points at 6,015.

Asian markets were trading mixed. Shanghai Composite gained 1.5% to 2,866. Nikkei was up 16 points at 10,545. However, Taiwan Weighted dropped 1.5% at 8,756.

BSE mid and small-cap indices under-performed the Sensex. Mid-cap index was down 1% at 7,590. Small-cap index was down 0.74% at 9,567.

All the sectoral indices, barring FMCG, traded in red. BSE auto index dropped 1.7% at 9,639. Metal and bankex shed 1% each.

Tata Motors dropped 2.6% to Rs 1,225. Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 2.3% to Rs 752. Maruti Suzuki dropped 1% to rs 1,358.

HDFC Banka and SBI are the top banking losers in the Sensex. Stocks fell 1.5% each.

Reliance, Hindalco, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel wre down around 1% each.

Food inflation shot up to nearly a year's high of 18.32% on December 25, due to spurt in vegetables, onion and milk prices, increasing pressure on government and RBI to intervene.

The earnings season will be starting from Monday.