Sensex down 85 pts, HPCL up 2%

The market sentiment remains bearish in early noon trades as weak trend is still persisting in old and new economy stocks. Select auto and tech stocks have bucked the downtrend with steady gains.

The Sensex, after a sharp fall in early trades of the opening session, has curbed its losses in early noon trades to 6,164 - down 85 pts at 6,164. The Nifty, too, has pared losses from its early lows and is now down 24 points at 1,932.

ONGC at Rs 832 (down Rs 14 or 1.67%) and Reliance at Rs 523 (down Rs 7 or 1.35%) are exhibiting a subdued trend. ITC is unchanged with a per cent loss (Rs 13) at Rs 1,364.

HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are trading over a 3% loss each at Rs 520 (down Rs 17) and Rs 389 (down Rs 13), respectively. SBI, however, has rolled back into the green with a rupee gain at Rs 622.

Infosys at Rs 1,930 (down Rs 26 or 1.34%) and Wipro at Rs 602 (down Rs 4) are trading at subdued levels. Satyam, however, has added 1.11% (Rs 4) to Rs 387.

Dr. Reddy's has lost nearly 3% (Rs 19) to Rs 693. While Cipla has declined 2.33% (Rs 5) to Rs 229, Ranbaxy is down 1.91% (Rs 18) at Rs 934.

Hero Honda has dipped 1.83% (Rs 9) to Rs 508, and Bajaj is down a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 1,070. While Tata Motors has moved up 1.71% (Rs 7) to Rs 417, Maruti is up a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 408.

Bharti has scaled down 3.83% (Rs 8) to Rs 196, while Hindalco has shed 3.22% (Rs 40) to Rs 1,216. Tisco at Rs 360 (down Rs 6 or 1.76%) and Tata Power at Rs 333 (down Rs 5 or 1.51%) are still displaying weak trends.

HPCL, however, after a weak first-half, has gained 2.40% (Rs 8) to Rs 330.