Markets slip, Sensex down 140pts

Markets continued to be under pressure in late morning trades due to selling in frontline stocks such as L&T, HDFC and Infosys ahead of the F&O expiry. These stocks have accounted for some 60-odd points' loss to the BSE benchmark index. The BSE Sensex is at 16,148, down 138 points. However, earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index had touched a high of 16,374. The S&P CNX Nifty is at 4,844, down 45 points.

The broader markets are performing equally weak as the mid-cap index is at 6,171, down 0.9% and the small-cap index is at 7,116, down 0.6%.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE IT, Metal and TECk indices are the major draggers, down 2% each. BSE IT is at 4,749 and prominent losers from the pack include MphasiS, HCL Technologies, Oracle Financial Services Software and FInancial Technologies, down 3-6% each. MphasiS has dipped after reporting 28% year-on-year (y-o-y) drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 195 crore for the third quarter ended July 2011. The company reported a net profit of Rs 271 crore during the May-July quarter last year.

Sun Pharma Industries, ONGC, Tata Power, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto, up 1-2% each are the prominent gainers among the Sensex 30 stocks. On the other side of the spectrum are Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, JP Associates, HDFC and TCS, down 2-3% each.

The overall market breadth is negative as 1,420 stocks have declined against 816 advancing ones.