Weakness persists dragged by heavyweights

Markets continue to remain under the selling pressure in the morning deals led by index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys along with banking and capital goods segment.

Both the Sensex and Nifty are trading below 17600 levels and 5350 mark, respectively. At 11.30 hrs, the Sensex was at 17,602, down 150 points and the Nifty declined 39 points at 5,346.

On the global front, apart from Kospi, all the major Asian markets are trading in red zone. Nikkei, Strait Times, Hang Seng, Taiwan, Kospi and Shanghai have declined between 0.0.4-1%.

Back home, banks, capital goods and technology are leading the downslide. Apart from healthcare, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in red zone.

From the Capital Goods pack, BHEL is the top Sensex loser, down 4%. The stock witnessed sharp rally during last two trading sessions. L&T is down by nearly 1.5% Capital Goods stocks have lost ground after the manufacturing growth came in at 0.4% vs 2.7% y-o-y.

Banking stocks like SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are trading weak and are down between 1-2% on profit taking on concerns that the credit offtake could see some cut due to lower Q3 GDP data.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries has slumped by nearly 1.5% on concerns of declining gas output. ONGC is down by nearly 1%. The company has launched a share sale through an auction today that aims to raise at least Rs 12,250 cr.

IT stocks like Wipro and Infosys have fallen between 1-2%.

Among Auto stocks Maruri Suzuki is the top Sensex gainer, up over 4% after the company reported a 6.5% rise in February car sales at 118,949 units as compared to 111,645 units in the same month last year. Hero Moto, Tata Motors have gained between 1-2%.
 
The broader markets are trading flat.

The market breadth in BSE remains weak with 1,082 shares advancing and 1240 shares declining.