Sensex drops over 300 points amid weak global cues

Markets extended losses amid a late sell-off tracking weakness in European shares.

At 3:20pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 347 points at 24,270 and the Nifty was down 108 points at 7,381.
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(updated at 2:30pm)
Markets have turned weak and are trading lower due to the selling pressure exerted by index heavyweights and technology shares. Further, selling in the European equities added pressure on the local equities.

At 2:30 pm,  the S&P Sensex was at 24,558, down by 58 points and the Nifty50 has shed 23 points to trade at 7,466.

Meanwhile investors are cautious ahead of the announcement of key macroeconomic data including GDP data for the third quarter, IIP, and CPI data.

Banking shares are the top gainers on the Sensex. Axis Bank, SBI, BHEL , ICICI Bank, and Adani ports are up between 1.5-4% each.

The top losers include ITC, TCS, Infosys, Tata Motors, and Sun pharma, down between 1-3% each.
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(updated 12:50 pm)

The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices on bargain buying in noon trades on Monday even as losses in IT majors capped further upside.

At 12:50pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 25 points at 24,642 and the Nifty50 was up 8  points at 7,497.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up over 1% each. Market breadth was positive with 1,463 gainers and 875 losers on the BSE.

The Indian rupee was trading 19 points lower at 67.83 against the US dollar after the American currency appreciated overseas.

Foreign funds were net sellers in equities worth Rs 607 crore per provisional stock exchange data.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Realty index was the top gainers up 1.9% followed by Bankex and Capital Goods among others.

Bank shares with exposure to steel companies were trading higher after the government set a minimum import price for steel products to check dumping from countries such as China and South Korea. Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI were up 1.7%-4.2%.

Among the index heavyweights Reliance Industries and L&T were up 0.8%-0.9% each.

IT shares weakened tracking the sharp decline in technology shares on the Nasdaq. TCS and Infosys were down 0.7-1.4% each. Wipro was trading flat. The company said it has won an information technology (IT) infrastructure transformation contract from the Sweden headquartered ASSA ABLOY Group.

Tata Power was down over 1% after the consolidated net plunged a whopping 88% to Rs 24 crore in the three months to December due to an exceptional loss of Rs 187 crore arising from falling global coal prices.

Tata Motors shed nearly 2% after it declared a lockout at its bus manufacturing plant in Karnataka's Dharwad, following a continued strike by workers. Meanwhile, the company is due to slte its numbers later this week.

Among other shares, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (P&G) surged 7% to Rs 5,890 on the BSE after the company posted a strong 62% year on year (YoY) jump in net profit to Rs 148 crore for the second quarter ended December 31, 2015.