Sideways movements marked the markets in the noon trades, but the markets soon slipped to touch fresh lows. The Sensex, at 18,276, was trading off the day's low; it slipped 73 points while the Nifty was down 22 points at 5,477.
ONGC was the top loser on the Sensex down 5% at Rs 282, while Hero Honda at Rs 1,807 slipped 3% and Reliance Industries shed 2% at Rs 926.
ITC was the top gainer on the Sensex up 2% at Rs 189, followed by Hindustan Unilever at Rs 307 and Larsen & TOubro at Rs 1,531 both up 1%.
The broader markets were trading flat with a negative bias, with the Mid-cap index at 6,831 and the Small-cap index at 8,295.
The FMCG index was the top sectoral gainer at 3,807, follwed by the Consumer Durables index at 6,286 up 1% and the Capital Goods counter at 12,689 up 0.5%.
Oil & Gas stocks remained under pressure, with the index slipping almost 3% to 9,425.
Of the 2,635 shares traded on the BSE so far, 1,091 have advanced, while 1,430 have declined, making the market breadth negative.
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(Updated at 1140 hrs)
After touching fresh lows at the onset of the late morning session, the markets recovered losses partially, but were still trading in negative terrain.
The Sensex was down 36 points at 18,309, while the Nifty slipped 11 points to 5,488.
Amongst the Sensex losers, ONGC declined more than 5% to Rs 281, while Hero Honda, at Rs 1,815, shed 3% and Reliance Industries slipped 2% to Rs 926. NTPC was off 2%, while Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and Wipro were down 1% each.
Cipla was the top gainer on the Sensex at Rs 308 up 1%, followed by Jindal Steel at Rs 638, TCS at Rs 1,140 and Larsen & TOubro at Rs 1,532 all up 1%. ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Power and Tats Steel were up 1% each.
The broader markets were subdued, with a tendency towards the red. The Mid-cap index was at 6,838, while the Small-cap index slipped to 8,299.
Consumer Durables stocks were the flavour of the day, with the index at 6,286 up 1%, followed by the FMCG counter at 3,793 up 0.8% and the Capital Goods counter up 0.5% at 12,692.
Oil & Gas shares were leading the losses on concerns that upstream oil companies may have to bear the subsidy burden of Rs 30,000 crore according to television reports as government increased upstream subsidy sharing to 38.5% of the total burden (Rs 75,000 crore) for FY11. The index dropped nearly 3% to 9,428.
The PSU and Auto indices were the other laggards in trade, at 8,670 and 9,085 respectively, down 1% each.
With 1,107 advances and 1,257 declines, the market breadth was negative.
