Weakness in key pivotals, especially those from the interest-rate sensitive and high-beta sectors, is taking its toll on the indices in the noon session. The Sensex has shed 124 points at 18,406, while the Nifty, at 5,514, slipped 30 points. The midcap index is at 6870, weaker by 31 points and the smallcap index is at 8335, down 32 points.
Inflation for April saw a marginal decline at 8.66% versus 9.04% reported in March. WPI primary articles inflation stood at 12.05% versus 12.95% month-on-month, while the WPI fuel group infaltion came in at 13.32% versus 12.92% reported a month ago. Manufacturing product inflation saw a negligible decline to 6.18% versus 6.21% reported in March.
Stocks from the auto, metal and banking space are continuing their recent downtrend in this session, squashing any hopes of a continuation of the momentary pullback rally seen on Friday. M&M has slid by 2.35% at Rs 674 to emerge as the leading loser on the BSE. Bajaj Auto has weakened by 2.3% at Rs 1306 and Maruti has edged lower by 0.6% at Rs 1216. In the metal space, Hindalco has corrected by 1.7% at Rs 194, Jindal Steel has lost 1.6% at Rs 632 and Tata Steel has shed 1.4%R at Rs 585. DLF, the key realty major, has slipped by 1.4% at Rs 228, and in the financials space, HDFC has shed 1.6% at Rs 636 and ICICI Bank has lost 1.1% at Rs 1063.
On the other hand, the stocks to show some resilience to the pervasive softness include Hero Honda (gained 1.8% at Rs 1828) and Bharti Airtel (adde d1.1% at Rs 371).
The market breadth is negative. Out of 2712 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1063 advancing stocks as against 1538 declines.
