)
Benchmark indices have extended losses and are trading near day’s lows weighed down by index heavyweight Reliance Industries and financials.
By 13:35 PM, the Sensex was lower by 263 points at 26,554 mark and the Nifty slipped by 90 points at 7,952 levels.
The main losers on the Sensex are Tata Steel, Tata Motors, ONGC, Axis Bank, RIL, SBI and Coal India.
Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have dipped 3% to Rs 409, extending its three-day’s fall, after the government cleared 5% disinvestment in oil major.
Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have slumped by 3%.
**************************************
Updated at 12:50
Benchmark indices edged lower in early noon trades amidst weak global cues as selling in ONGC, Axis Bank, RIL and Tata Motors weighed on the indices. At 1230 hrs, the Sensex was down 50 points at 26,766 and the Nifty slipped 19 points to trade at 8,023.
However, a mixed trend emerged in the broader markets with the midcap index flat with a negative bias and the smallcap index gained 0.3%.
For the day, investors have turned cautious ahead of the start of the two-day US Federal Reserve policy meeting starting today. Speculation that the Fed could raise interest rates sooner and faster than previously expected has rattled many share markets around the globe and supported the U.S. dollar.
As a result, overseas investors have sold index futures worth 13.94 billion rupees ($228.2 million) on Monday, exchange data shows. Also, foreign funds sold cash shares worth 746 million rupees in the previous session.
Rupee was weak with the currency quoting at 61.07 to a Dollar.
Sectors & Stocks
Oil & Gas, Metal, Power, Auto and banking indices were down 0.3-1% and were the major sectoral indices in red.
However, there was some buying in Realty, Health Care, IT and the respective indices gained 0.6-1.4%.
Pharma names like Dr Reddy’s and Sun Pharma gained 1-2% and were the top gainers among Sensex-30.
IT majors Infosys, TCS and Wipro were up 0.4-1%. Wipro gained after the company’s subsidiary secured a contract from Saudi-based Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) for implementing and performing plant maintenance and project system functionality of SAP ERP application.
Bharti Airtel, Herp MotoCorp, ITC and GAIL up 0.1-0.8% rounded off the gainers list.
From the oil & gas pocket, ONGC and RIL were the top losers down 2.5% and 1% respectively and were also the top losers among Sensex stocks.
The weak trend continues in the metal names with Tata Steel and Sesa Strelite down over a percent each. Hindalco was flat with a negative bias.
Auto names like Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, M&M and Maruti were weak with the scrips down 0.1-1%.
Tata Motors dipped 1% after global wholesales in August 2014, including Jaguar Land Rover, stood at 73,524 units showing a declination of 10% from the corresponding month last year.
Coal India, NTPC, Tata Power, ICICI Bank and HUL down 0.6-2% were the other notable losers.
The market breadth was negative on BSE. 1,422 stocks declined while 1,353 stocks advanced.
Global Markets
Asian shares fell to 10-week lows on Tuesday as investors braced for a possible hawkish shift in the Federal Reserve's policy stance in the lead-up to the U.S. central bank's two-day policy meeting later in the day.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.6% to its lowest level since late June. Japan's Nikkei stock average snapped a five-session winning streak to close down 0.2%, catching up after Tokyo markets were closed for a local holiday on Monday.
