Markets off day's low

Metal, auto shares lead the losses

Markets have recovered from the day's low in afternoon deals. The Sensex after touching a low of 15,847 is trading at 15,937 - down 89 points. Nifty is down 26 points at 4,834.

Asian markets, meanwhile, languished in the red. Hang Seng is down 1.5% at 18,759. Nikkei dropped 2% to 8,557. This comes after the World Bank said global commodity prices could drop unexpectedly in the event of a faster-than-expected slowdown in China.

BSE consumer durables index continued to languish and was down 2% at 6,291. Auto, power and realty indices were down around 1% each.

Metal shares slipped following the World Bank comment on China's slowdown in growth. BSE metal index dropped 0.3% to 9,899.

Tata Power has shed 2.6% to Rs 88, extending its previous day’s over 5% fall, on reporting a consolidated loss of Rs 629 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2012, due to impairment provision related to Mundra project. The company had a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 625 crore in the previous year quarter.

Bharti Airtel, HDFC and Reliance, together accounted for a 34 point drop on the Sensex. Auto shares slid with Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp dropping 1.8% each. Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors were down 1.4% each.

Meanwhile, Gail India is up 3.4% at Rs 325. SBI, Hindalco and BHEL have managed to hold on to gains and moved up half a per cent each.

BSE market breadth is negative. Out of 2,545 shares traded, 1,499 shares have declined while 917 shares have advanced in trades.