Markets extend losses, Banks drag

Benchmark indices have extended the losses led by weakness among financials, PSU shares and index heavyweight Infosys. Meanwhile, investors remain cautious on expectation of reforms announcement during the ongoing winter session of the Parliament.

At 13:00 AM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex index was down 84 points at 18,433 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty fell 25 points to 5,602.

Indian Parliament was adjourned on Thursday amid protests from political leaders over economic reforms passed by Congress-led UPA government earlier this year.

On the global front, Global risk appetite, however, improved after surge in manufacturing output from China and the United States raised hopes that the global growth recovery is gaining momentum.

Back home, the Indian rupee continued to decline against the dollar for the fourth consecutive day by slipping another 13 paise to 55.34 on sustained demand of the American currency from banks and importers.

On the sectoral front, BSE Banks, Realty, PSU and Metal indices have plunged by nearly 1% each.

From the banking space, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI have declined by 1% each.

IT majors like Infosys and Wipro are down by nearly 1% each.

Cipla has dropped by over 2% after the Cabinet today endorsed the recommendations of a Group of Ministers’ (GoM) on a revised National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, giving shape to a long-pending issue.

Ranbaxy Laboratories is trading lower by 2% after the pharmaceutical firm said that it has recalled Atorvastatin, a generic version of Lipitor, from the USA market.

Other prominent losers include GAIL India, ITC, Sterlite, L&T and JSPL.

On the gaining side, BHEL, Hero Moto, Coal India and Sun Pharma have surged between 1-1.5%.

Among other shares, shares of aviation companies mainly Jet Airways and SpiceJet have rallied more than 7% each on back of heavy volumes.

Shares of Edelweiss Financial Services and Greaves Cotton have rallied more than 6% each in otherwise subdued market on back of huge bulk deals in these counters.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices are trading flat.

The overall breadth is negative as 1,402 stocks have declined while 1,114 stocks advanced on the BSE.