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Benchmark shares indice came off their day's lows in late noon trades after index heavyweight in Reliance Industries pared early losses to turn positive. Further, recovery in select financials also helped markets trim losses.
At 2:30PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 47 points at 20,843 after hitting an intra-day low of 20,765 and the 50-share Nifty was down 15 points at 6,188 after touching an intra-day low of 6,164.
The weakened today due to dollar buying by banks. Subdued equity markets also impacted the rupee.
At 2:25PM, the rupee was trading at Rs 62.48 compared with previous close of Rs 62.38 per dollar
Asian markets were trading mixed. Japan's Nikkei ended 0.3% lower following a stronger yen and profit taking in financials after recent gains. Among other indices in the region, Straits Times was down 0.3% while Hang Seng was up 0.2% and Shanghai COmposite was up 0.6%.
European shares were trading weak as investors turned cautious ahead of the US economic data and minutes of the US Fed meeting held in October. The FTSE-100 was down 0.2% while CAC-40 was up 0.1% and DAX was trading flat with negative bias.
BSE Healthcare index was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 0.6% followed by Consumer Durables, Bankex and IT. Realty index was the top gainer up 1.7% followed by Metal and Power indices.
ICICI Bank was down 1.4% contributing the most to the Sensex losses along with HDFC Bank, L&T and Bharti Airtel among others.
Infosys was down 0.6%. Recently Stephen Pratt, executive council member, and head of utilities and resources for North America had resigned from the company.
HDFC, ONGC, Sesa Sterlite, Reliance Industries and Coal India in the Sensex pack were marginally up.
The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices with the BSE Mid-cap index up 0.6% and Small-cap index up 0.8%.
Market breadth was positive with 1,356 advances and 1,046 declines on the BSE.
