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Markets continue to remain weak in late trades on Monday weighed down by index heavyweights and IT majors.
At 3PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 238 points at 26,823 and 50-share Nifty was down 62 points at 8,043.
In the IT pack, TCS and Infosys were among the top Sensex losers along with ITC, Reliance Industries, ONGC and HDFC among others.
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(Updated at 12:50PM)
Benchmark indices continue to maintain weak trend post the announcement of August WPI inflation which fell to 5-year low of 3.74%.
WPI inflation fell to a five-year low of 3.74% in August compared to 5.19% the previous month.
Food inflation came in at 5.15% compared to 8.43% on a monthly basis, the lowest level since January 2012, while fuel and power inflation was at 4.54% compared to 7.40% in July.
At 12:50 PM, the Sensex was down 203 points at 26,858 mark and the Nifty lost 56 points at 8,049 mark.
The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained between 0.1-0.5%. The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,569 shares advancing and 1,195 shares declining.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said India's macroeconomic indicators are improving and inflation has been coming down consistent with the central bank's forecast, but Asia's third-largest economy needs investment growth to pick up.
The rupee depreciated by 33 paise to 60.98 against the US dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to increased demand for the US currency from importers amid a weak opening in the domestic equity market.
The provisional data released by the stock exchanges after trading hours on Friday showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 182.80 crore on that day.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian stocks skidded to five-week lows on Monday, giving European markets a negative lead after a batch of weak data out of China raised the spectre of a sharp slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy.
Data out on Saturday showed China's factory output grew at the weakest pace in nearly six years in August, while growth in other key sectors also cooled.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 0.9% to levels last seen on Aug. 8. The index has fallen 4% in a little over a week, from a near seven-year peak. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 0.8%, South Korea's KOSPI dipped 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6%.
SECTORS & STOCKS
BSE Metal index has slumped by over 1% followed by counters like Capital Goods, FMCG, IT and Oil & Gas, all gaining by nearly 1% each. However, BSE Healthcare and Realty indices are trading marginally in green zone.
Shares of metal companies are trading lower up to 4%on the NSE in a subdued market on weak Chinese economic data. China's factory output grew at the weakest pace in nearly six years in August raising fears the world's second-largest economy may be at risk of a sharp slowdown.
Tata Steel, Sesa Sterlite, Jindal Steel, Hindalco and Coal India are down 1-4% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
Other notable losers are HDFC, GAIl, Wipro, M&M, ONGC and Sun Pharma.
L&T is down by nearly 1% on the back of sluggish industrial growth in July.
On the gaining side, Cipla, Hero Moto, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy’s Labs and SBI have gained between 0.2-3%.
Cipla has gained by nearly 3% in otherwise weak market on reports that Gilead Sciences plans to allow five Indian firms to sell generic versions of its new HepatitisC medicines viz sofosbuvir and ledipasvir in 90 countries.
Among other shares, RPP Infra Projects surged over 7% to Rs 92 on the BSE after the company today announced that it has received rural electrification orders worth Rs 55.20 crore.
