Markets off day's low

Auto shares dip on weak sales nos

Markets have recovered marginally from the lows of the day. The Sensex touched a low of 17,149 this morning and is now down 98 points at 17,204.

Asian markets remained weak with the Taiwan Wighted, Kospi and Hang Seng slipping 0.3% each.

From the sectoral pack, BSE auto index remained weak and was down 3% at 10,249. Bankex and realty indices slipped 1% each, followed by power and PSU indices. However, BSE IT index has managed to gain 0.5% at 5,772.

Hero MotoCorp shed 6% to Rs 2,106 after reporting lower-than-expected 20% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in net profit at Rs 604 crore for the quarter ended March 2012, due to higher raw material cost.  Analyst had expected a net profit of Rs 626 crore from the world's largest two-wheeled vehicle manufacturer. Total income grew 12% at Rs 6,140 crore on y-o-y basis.

Bajaj Auto has shed 2.8% to Rs 1,548. Other auto losers were Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra.

"Bajaj Auto is trading very close to its over sold zone 1520 best trading strategy would be wait for couple of days to consolidate; whereas I dony advocate a sell at current market price. Heromotoco could witness seling pressure at cuurent levels whereas support expected is 2070 & Maruti is a sell target expected 1270," said Ravi Nathani, Technical analyst, Nsetoday.com.

Banking shares declined with the ICICI Bank being the biggest dragger among Sensex socks - down 3% at Rs 856. SBI was dowm 1.6% at Rs 2,104.

Other losers included Coal India, Tata Steel, DLF and NTPC.

Meanwhile, Wipro gained 1.8% at Rs 412. Hindustan Unilever, Cipla and BHEL were also in the green.

BSE market breadth was negative. Out of 2,289 shares traded, 1,360 shares declined while 825 shares advanced in trades.