 "Weak global cues weigh on markets; Sensex slumps 500 points")
Markets have come off their lows led by IT majors and index heavyweight Reliance Industries.
At 12:40 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 381 points at 28,416 and the Nifty50 slipped 129 points to 8,739. In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 1.5%-2.2% each.
IT exporters were the top gainers on the back of a weakening rupee led by Infosys up 1.5% followed by Wipro and TCS among others.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries turned positive after a weak start and was trading with marginal gains.
Among other shares, Patel Engineering was locked in upper circuit for the six straight trading session, up 5% at Rs 108 on the BSE, on back of heavy volumes.
Balkrishna Industries hit a record high of Rs 920, up 3% on the BSE in an otherwise weak market after reporting 47% year-on-year (YoY) growth in net profit at Rs 149 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 (Q1FY17), on back of strong volume growth. The company engaged in tyres business had profit of Rs 102 crore in a year ago quarter.
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(Updated at 9:40am)
Markets opened sharply lower on Monday tracking weakeness in Asia and a plunge in US stocks on Friday on rising prospects that the US Federal Reserve could hike interest rates soon.
At 9:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 411 points at 28,386 and the Nifty50 slipped 132 points to 8,734. In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 2% each.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities worth Rs 315 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Further, the government is likely to announce Index of Industrial Production for July 2016 after market hours today.
Financials which had gained sharply in the previous sessions witnessed profit taking with ICICI Bank down over 3% followed by HDFC, HDFC Bank, SBI and Axis Bank.
Yes Bank extended losses and was down nearly 4% after the private banking major in a release last week said it has deferred its plans to raise equity via QIP because of misinterpretation of new QIP guidelines.
Tata Steel was down nearly 3% ahead of its results later today.
Auto stocks which had rallied in the previous sessions also witnessed profit taking with Maruti Suzuki down over 2% followed by Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors and M&M.
IT major Infosys was the sole gainer up over 1% in early trades.
Meanwhile, the second initial public offering from L&T Group opens for subscription today. The IPO of L&T Technology Services Limited is priced in the range of Rs 850-860 per equity share and the issue closes on September 15.
Global Markets
Asian markets eased tracking losses in US stocks on Friday and fears that the US Federal Reserve could raise interest rate earlier than expected. Shares in Japan were down on the back of a stronger yen. The benchmark Nikkei was down 1.5% while Shanghai Composite eased 1.7% and Hang Seng dropped 2.9% and Straits Times was down nearly 1%.
US stocks slumped on Friday with all the major indices down over 2% each on rising prospects that the US Federal Reserve may hike interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 2.1% while Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended down over 2.4% each.
