Weakness persists in afternoon trades

Having recovered from the day's lows, the markets continued to trade weak with the BSE Sensex at 15,832, down 133 points and the Nifty at 4,803, down 39 points. Most of the recovery was led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries which was trading a percent higher after having touched an intra-day low of Rs 674.

Earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index touched the day's high at 15,868 and the day's low at 15,749.

Meanwhile, brent crude prices fell below $98 a barrel to a 16-month low on Monday, pressured by fears of a global economic slowdown following weak US and Chinese economic data.

The rupee today lost four paise to 55.58 against the dollar in early trade as the American currency gained strength against euro and other Asian currencies.

In Asia, Japan's shares fell sharply, with the Topix index falling to a near three-decade low as investors rushed to sell off riskier assets on the back of disappointing US jobs data, concerns about a worsening euro zone debt crisis and slowing Chinese growth. Tokyo's broader Topix index lost 2.1% to 693.35, a level not seen since late 1983, as Asian markets plumbed new lows for 2012. Japan's Nikkei average fell 2% after last week marking its ninth straight week of losses, the longest such losing streak run in 20 years. The Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng indices shed 2-3% each.

Back home, on the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durables, Realty, FMCG and Metal indices are leading the losses, down 2-4% each.

From the Consumer Durables' space, Titan Industries, Bajaj Electricals, VIP INdustries and Rajesh Exports have shed 2-6% each, on concerns that rising inflation would reduce the purchasing power of consumers thereby lowering demand for products.

From the Realty space, DLF is the top Sensex loser, down nearly 5%. In early trades, the scrip tanked over 5% to Rs 169.55, its lowest level since March 2009, on back of huge volumes. According to a presentation by an analyst, DLF's net debt stood at Rs 22,725 crore as on March 31, 2012, which is now five times the company's FY12 EBITDA of Rs 4,500 crore.

Among the Sensex 30 stocks, DLF, Gail (India), Jindal Steel, Sterlite Industries and Bharti Airtel, down 2-4% each, are leading the losses. The gainers from the space are ONGC and Reliance Industries, up 1-2% each, Hero MotoCorp and Tata Motors are up marginally.

The overall market breadth is negative as 1,574 stocks have declined against 795 advancing ones, on the BSE.