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Markets have extended losses and are trading near day’s low weighed down by weak global cues and profit booking after recent run-up in share prices.
At 14:00PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 508 points at 28,941 and the 50-share Nifty was down 157 points at 8,781.
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Updated at 13:33
Benchmark indices continue to trade lower, shedding over 1% each, with the losses in private banks, information technology and metals contributing the most to the decline.
The heavy losses reflect the weakness in select Asian markets which have declined on concerns that the strong US job reports data may encourage the US Federal Reserve to hike key rates in June.
At 12:51PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 394 points at 29,053 and the 50-share Nifty was down 126 points at 8,811.
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap index down 0.5% and Smallcap index down 0.2% have performed better than the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE is negative with 1,576 declines against 987 advances.
"Most of the triggers such as rate cut, Budget proposals have been factored in. Investors are booking profits as valuations seems to be stretched at current levels. Further, weak global cues is also weighing on market sentiment," said Prakash Diwan, Director, Altamount Capital Management.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 79.84 crore on Friday as per provisional stock exchange data.
Buzzing Stocks
All the 12 sectoral indices of BSE are trading lower. BSE Bankex, down around 2% is the top loser followed by BSE Power and BSE IT indices, down 1.8% and 1.6% each and BSE Capital Goods index down 1.2%.
Financials have declined in today’s session. ICICI Bank has shed over 3%, housing finance major HDFC has declined around 2%, Axis Bank is down 2% and HDFC Bank and SBI have lost 1.5% and 0.7% each.
Among information technology shares, Infosys is down 2%, TCS and Wipro have lost over 1% each. TCS fourth-quarter revenue is expected to be in line with last year trend which has brought selling pressure on the stock.
Capital Goods stocks too have suffered heavy losses. L&T has declined 1.6% and BHEL is down 2.3%.
Among metal shares, Sesa Sterlite is the biggest loser and has declined around 4%, Hindalco is down close to 3% and Tata Steel has lost around 1%.
Oil and gas shares have declined on weak outlook for the crude prices. Oil prices will reverse their recent gains as global crude inventories begin to increase again, with US crude likely to drop as far as $40 a barrel in the near-term, Goldman Sachs has said. GAIL is down around 4%, ONGC is down 0.7% while RIL is trading flat.
