The markets have plunged in noon trades on the back of weakness in heavyweights such as Tata Motors, SBI and ICICI Bank. The Sensex is at a 52-week low of 15803, weaker by 350 points and the Nifty is at 5748, down 100 points.
State Bank of India (SBI) has plunged more than 5% to Rs 1,763, its lowest since September 2009, after Moody's Investors Service downgraded the bank financial strength rating (BFSR), or stand-alone rating, to D+ from C-.
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(Updated at 1259 hrs)
The markets were trading near the intra-day low levels in the noon deals. The Sensex was at 16,041 levels, down 109 points and the Nifty was at 4,826, down 25 points.
Ranak Merchant, technical analyst with Sushil Financial Services says that the crucial support for Nifty now lies at 4,806.
Meanwhile, the European markets have opened lower. The CAC 40 index opened at 2,883, down 1.5%, FTSE opened at 5,012, down 1.25% and trhe DAX is at 5,284, down 92 points.
Back home, Tata Motors was the top loser, down 2.8% to Rs 149. Mahindra & Mahindra, Coal India, Jindal Steel, Infosys, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries were also among the laggards on the benchmark indices.
On the other hand, J P Associates was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, up 3.6% to Rs 73. Larsen & Toubro advanced 2.5% to Rs 1,351. Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel, Hindalco, BHEL, Hero MotoCorp, Wipro and Sterlite Industries also advanced 1%-2% each in trades thus far.
The shares of fertilisers companies such as Chambal Fertilisers, National Fertilisers, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers and Coromandel International are trading higher by more than 2% each on hopes of decontrol in urea prices.
On the sectoral front, Oil & Gas index was the top sectoral loser, down 34 points or 0.4% to 8,394. Auto, IT and Healthcare indices were also trading in the negative territory.
At the same time, BSE Capital Goods index was the top gainer. The index jumped 1.7% to 10,652. Consumer Durables index also advanced 1% to 6,328. Realty, Metal, Power FMCG and Bankex indices were also trading marginally higher.
Among the oil & Gas stocks GAIL India was the top loser, down 1.6% to Rs 411. Cairn India, Essar Oil, BPCL, Reliance Industries and ONGC were also among the losers. Bharat Electricals was the top gainer among the capital goods stocks, up nearly 2% to Rs 1,502. BHEL, Punj Lloyd, Praj Industries, BGR Energy and BEML were also among thwe gainers.
The broader markets were trading on a flat note. The BSE mid-cap index gained 3 points to 6,019 and the small-cap index advanced 4 points to 6,783.
The overall breadth was marginally positive as 1,272 stocks were advancing while 1,144 stocks were declining.
