Sensex plunges on weak European cues

The markets extended losses in mid-noon trades owing to weak cues from the Eurepean bourses. The subdued global cues along with the disappointing Infosys results saw the Sensex start the day with a gap down. From there on the markets made several attempts to claw back and managed to touch a high of 18,589 in the late morning trades. However, in the afternoon trades the European markets starting in the negative proved to be a huge jolt dragging the Sensex to day's low.

Currently, the Sensex is down 368 points at 18,357 and the Nifty has shed 110 points at 5,505. The broader markets were not immune to the slide either. The smallcap and the midcap indices have declined 1% each as compared to the Sensex which is down over 1.5%.

In a substantive exercise, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today dropped seven ministers and inducted V Kishore Chandra Deo and seven other new faces, and elevated three others including Jairam Ramesh from whom Environment and Forests has been taken away.

In the much-talked about revamping of his ministry, Singh did not touch the 'big four' -- Finance, Home, Defence and External Affairs -- but shifted M Veerappa Moily from Law to Corporate Affairs and brought Salman Khursheed in his place.

Meanwhile, on the macroeconomic front the Government released the IIP data for the month of May. IIP was recorded at 5.6% compared to 6.3% during the previous month. Manufacturing sector growth came in at 5.6%. Electricity grew by 10.6% and the capital goods sector growth was recorded at 5.9%

All the sectoral indices are in the negative in the afternoon trades with IT and Realty indices leading the losses down 3% followed by Auto, Capital Goods, Metal and Bankex indices losing 1-2%. The least affected in the downtrend is the FMCG and Oil & Gas index losing 0.4% each.

Among other markets, the Asian markets too registered significant losses, with the Hang Seng, Seoul Composite and Taiwan Weighted down 2% each. Shanghai Composite, Nikkei and Straits Times were down 1.5% each are the other notable losers. In the European markets, CAC and DAX are down 2% each while FTSE is down 1%

Back home, Infosys down nearly 5% continues to be the top loser followed by DLF,Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, L&T,Reliance Infrastructure and Bajaj Auto losing 2-3%.

Of the total 2,730 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,880 stocks have advanced while 751 advanced.