Sensex slips below 17,000

The markets continue to trade on a weak note in the noon deals and the BSE bechmark index- Sensex has slipped below 17,000 levels on back of profitt booking across sectors. The Sensex is down 267 points at 16,966 and the Nifty is down 83 points at 5,121 levels.

BHEL is the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 8.4% at Rs 250 after reporting a 7% year-on-year (y-o-y) drop in order inflows at Rs 146,500 crore at the end of December 2011 quarter. ICICI Bank is also trading weaker by 3.6% at Rs 856 ahead of its third quarter results which are to be announced tomorrow. Sterlite Industries, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries and HDFC are also among the laggards.

However, Sun Pharma, Jindal Steel, Gail India, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and ONGC are among the notable gainers.

On the sectoral front, capital goods, banking and power stocks are amongst the worst hit. The BSE Capital Goods index is down 3.2% or 328 points at 10,031. BSE banking index- Bankex has also shed 2% or 235 points at 11,046. Power, Consumer Durables, Auto, Realty, metal. Oil & Gas and IT indices are also down 0.7-1.8% each.

Punj Lloyd, Crompton Greaves, Alstom Projects, Suzlon Energy, Praj Industries and thermax are the top losers from the capital goods space, down 2-4% each. Among the banking stocks, Yes Bank is the top loser, down 4% to Rs 313. Bank of India, Indusind Bank, Axis bank, Federal Bank and IDBI Bank are also among the top losers.

Among the individual stocks,RPP Infra Projects has zoomed 18% to Rs 69 after the company said it has bagged fresh orders worth Rs 23 crore from Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL).

KSK Energy Ventures was locked in 5% upper circuit at Rs 56.95 on reporting over six-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 82.73 crore for the third quarter ended December 2011 on back of higher sales and income from other sources.

The broader markets are also trading on a weak note. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices have shed 0.7% each.

The overall breadth is negative as 1,479 stocks are declining while 1,055 are advancing.