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Benchmark indices have extended the losses on the back of weak global cues, along with capital goods and banking shares leading the fall.
By 10:20, the 30-share Sensex was down 128 points at 19,937 and the 50-share Nifty was down 47 points at 6,048.
On the global front, Japanese government bonds plunged on Thursday, taking yields to their highest in a year and leading a selloff in bonds globally after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks sparked worries of a reduction in U.S. monetary stimulus.
Bernanke's comments, suggesting the Fed's massive bond purchases could be scaled back in the next few policy meetings if the economy improves further, triggered a reaction across a swathe of MARKETS, lifting the dollar to a three-year high versus a basket of currencies and the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield to the highest in two months.
Back home, the rupee today declined by a hefty 37 paise to trade at a fresh six-month low of 55.83 in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on sustained dollar demand and strengthening of the US currency overseas.
On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods index has slumped by nearly 3% followed by counters like Realty, Consumer Durable and Power, all declining by 25 each. Sectors like Banks, PSU, Auto, Healthcare, Metal, FMCG and Oil & Gas are down by 1% each. However, BSE IT index has gained by nearly 1%.
From the Capital Goods space, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is trading lower by 3% at Rs 1,470, extending its previous day’s around 6% fall, on reporting worse-than-expected 6.9% year-on-year decline in net profit at Rs 1,788 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 (Q4) due to higher interest costs. India's biggest engineering and construction firm had profit of Rs 1,920 crore in a year ago quarter.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is trading lower by 3.4% to Rs 197 ahead of its Q4 (January-March) results today.
Among Banks, SBI and ICICI Bank have declined by nearly 3% each.
Other notable losers are Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, RIL, NTPC, Hero Moto, Sterlite and Tata Power, all slipping between 1-2%.
Ranbaxy Laboratories has tanked 7% to Rs 402 in morning trades on reports that Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had been ordered to examine all the dossiers and drug applications on the basis of which approvals had been granted to Ranbaxy in the past.
On the gaining side, HDFC, TCS, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma and ONGC have gained by 1% each.
Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down by 1%. The market breadth in BSE remains weak with 1,017 shares declining and 352 shares advancing.
