Markets trading weak

The Sensex touched a low of 18,339, post that recovered some of the losses but has now once again slipped a wee bit. The Sensex is now down 107 points at 18,427.

Auto stocks are in the doldrums ater the Reserve Bank of India's 50 basis points rate hike announcement yesterday, implying a negative impact on auto sales going forward. The top losers on the Sensex were all auto stocks, with Bajaj AUto leading the pack at Rs 1,308 down 4%, while Hero Honda at Rs 1,618, slipped 3% and Maruti Suzuki at Rs 1,248, was down 2%.

Oil manufacturing firm ONGC is on top of the Sensex gainers list up 2% at Rs 302, followed by HDFC Bank at Rs 2,266 and Hindustan Unilever at Rs 276 both up 1%.

The Oil & Gas counter is leading the sectoral indices pack up nearly 1% at 9,736, followed by the Capital Goods index at 12,783.

On the other hand, the auto setor is reeling under the rate hike pressure, and is trading lower almost 2% at 8,950. IT stocks are seeing some weakness, and the index is off 1.5% at 5,992.

Of the total 2,399 shares traded on the BSE so far, 917 have advanced, while 1,398 have declined, making the market breadth very negative.