Global worries weigh, Sensex down 320 points

The markets continued to wilt under selling pressure in late morning trades. The BSE Sensex is at 16,151, down 320 points and the S&P CNX Nifty is at 4,849, down 96 points. In the opening trades, the markets had opened lower tracking sell-off in the world markets following global recession concerns and the health of European banks. The BSE benchmark index had touched a low 16,118.

Investors shunned risk as they confronted a grim economic outlook in the US along with a possibility that concerns that banks may have exposure to high debt from the countries in Euro-zone.

Overnight the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.7%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was off 4.5% and the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 5.2%.

Asian markets are mirroring losses on Wall Street. The Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 2.7%, China’s Shanghai Composite gave up 1.7% and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average declined 2.1%.

Back home, BSE IT index continues as the major laggard among the sectoral indices. The index is at 4,731, down 5%. Capital Goods index follows closely at 11,600, down 4%.

Coal India has moved up 1.3% at Rs 396 and is the top gainer on the Sensex. Other prominent gainers include Hero Motocorp, SBI, ONGC and Bharti Airtel, up 0.1-0.9% each. The top losers among the pack include Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, BHEL, Tata Motors and Hindalco Industries, down 4-6% each.

The overall market breadth is negative as 1,991 stocks are declined as against 510 advancing ones.