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Markets extended losses in late morning deals with the benchmark indices losing close to 1% each, edging towards their fourth consecutive day of declines.
At 1130 hrs, the Sensex was down 150 points at 20,775 and the Nifty gave off 51 points to trade 6,185. The ones leading the losses were ICICI Bank, HDFC, L&T, RIL and ITC.
The broader markets were relatively better off with the midcap index down 0.4% and the smallcap index losing 0.2% as compared to the 0.7% drop seen on the Sensex.
Among the sectoral indices, Auto and IT indices were the only green pockets.
Rates sensitives like Bankex, Capital Goods and Realty indices were down over 1.5% on concerns that the Reserve Bank of India is likely to hike the repo rate during its upcoming monetary policy review after a sharp spike in retail inflation and a worse-than-expected contraction in industrial production.
Power, Oil & Gas and Metal indices too, were down nearly 1% each.
Tata Motors up 3% on value buying and was the top gainer among Sensex-30.
Coal India, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddys Lab and Mahindra & Mahindra up 0.4-1.3% rounded off teh gainers in the morning trades.
Among the losers were BHEL, ICICI Bank, Jindal Steel, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Power, Hindalco, HDFC, Gail India, Bajaj Auto and NTPC down 2-3.5%.
Wockhardt dipped 4% to Rs 362, its lowest level since August, after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has imposed an import alert on its manufacturing unit at Chikalthana, Aurangabad, in Maharashtra.
The market breadth was negative on the BSE. 1156 stocks declined while 761 stocks advanced.
