Markets near day's low, Sensex down 300pts

Markets continued to trade on a weak note in the noon deals on back of selling pressure visible across the board. The Sensex was at 16,693, down 332 points and the Nifty shed 103 points to 5,015.

According to Rakesh Gandhi, Senior Technical Analyst - Advisory, LKP Securities, "We could once again see our markets between the broad range of 4750 and 5175 in coming days becoming volatile without any direction."

Meanwhile, the European markets have opened in the red. CAC40 index was down 3,123, down 1.4%, FTSE opened lower by 1.1% at 5,376 and the DAX opened at

Back home, the IT stocks were amongst the worst hit in today's session after the weak set of second quarter numbers reported by the industry heavyweighjt TCS. It was the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down nearly 8% at Rs 1,033. Wipro shed 3.5% to Rs 344 and the Infosys was also trading lower by 1.4% at Rs 2,708. Tata Motors, Sterlite Industries, Hindalco, DLF, ICICI Bank, J P Associates, Jindal Steel and State Bank of India were also trading weaker by 2-4.6% each.

On the other hand, Coal India, NTPC, Tata Power, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC were among the notable gainers on the Sensex.

Among the individual stocks, Natco Pharma has rallied 13% to Rs 251 after the company entered into an exclusive agreement with Mabxience, under which Natco will purchase four mAb drug substances from Chemo and use the same for manufacturing finished dosages pharmaceutical formulations.

MindTree has surged 7% to Rs 415 after reporting 135% year-on-year (y-o-y) jump in net profit to Rs 54.5 crore for the quarter ended September, as compared to Rs 23.20 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. Revenues grew 18.8% to Rs 457 crore on y-o-y basis.

All the sectoral indices were reeling under the selling pressure. BSE IT index was the top loser, down 3.6% or 207 points at 5,463. Realty index slipped neally 3% to 1,782. Metal, Bankex, Auto, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, and Oil & Gas indices were also trading weaker by 1.4-2.3% each.

Prestige estates was the top loser among the realty stocks, down 5% to Rs 98. DLF, HDIL, Peninsula Land, Unitech, Indiabulls Real Estate, Sobha Developers, Phoenix Mills and D B Realty were also among the laggards.

The broader markets also faced the heat of selling pressure. The BSE mid-cap index was down 87 points at 6,102 and the small-cap index was at 6,841, down 81 points.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 1,675 stocks declined while 719 stocks advanced.