Sensex slips 150pts in early noon deals

The markets have extended losses in the noon deals, led by fresh round of selling in the information technology (IT) stocks. The Sensex is now down over 150 points at 16,900, and the Nifty has plunged 50 points to 5,088.

Infosys, TCS and Wipro are the major losers, down 2-3% each.
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(Updated at 1140 hrs)

The markets are trading on a subdued note, despite strong IIP numbers and positive global cues. The Sensex, which, opened nearly 200 points higher at 17,247 has now erased gains and is more or less unchanged around 17,049.

The NSE Nifty has declined two points at 5,136.

The BSE Consumber Durables and Capital Goods indices, however, has logged smart gains on the back of strong IIP numbers, which jumped to 8.8%. The Consumber Durables index has moved up 1.2% to 6,491 and the Capital Goods index has added 0.8% to 12,322.

Among the Sensex stocks - Tata Motors has plunged over 4% to Rs 810. Wipro has dropped 3.5% at Rs 341. TCS, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Bharti Airtel and NTPC are the other major losers.

On the other hand, Jindal Steel has rallied nearly 3% to Rs 526. ONGC has advanced over 2% to Rs 283. Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero Honda, Sterlite, Cipla, ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro are the other major gainers.

Punj Lloyd, Usha Martin and BGR Energy are the top gainers in the Capital Goods space, up over 2% each. Crompton Greaves, Alstom Projects, Lakshmi Machine Works and Praj Industries are the other major gainers.

Rajesh Exports up nearly 5% is the major gainer in the consumer durables space. VIP Industries, Blue Start, Gitanjali Gems and Balaji Electricals were the other prominent gainers.

The market breadth is fairly positive - out of 2,364 stocks traded so far, 1,465 have advanced and 816 have declined on the BSE.