Markets continue to slide

Markets dropped to its lowest in more than seven months in late morning trades following weakness in Asian markets and select rate sensitive stocks.

Sensex dropped to a low of 17,378 from a high of 17,637. The index was down 209 points at 17,382.

Nifty was down 49 points at 5,204.

Almost all the BSE sectoral indices were in red, barring FMCG and power.

Lanco Infratech, GMR Infra, GVK Power, Crompton Greaves and Torrent Power were the gainers in the power space. Meanwhile, ITC and Dabur India were the sole FMCG gainers.

BSE realty index continued to trade on a weak note and was down 3.3% at 2,016. It was followed by metal, IT, oil and banking stocks.

SBI was the major dragger among Sensex stocks and tumbled 3.7% to Rs 2,494. Heavyweight - Reliance slipped 1.5% to Rs 897.

Bharti Airtel plunged 5.5% to Rs 314. BHEL, Cipla, HDFC were down 2-3% each.

Tata Steel, Hindalco and Sterlite - among the metal stocks, slipped 2.2% each.

IT stocks were in red. TCS, Infosys and Wipro dropped around 1% each in trades.

Meanwhile, Reliance Infra soared 8.7% to Rs 582 after crashing in trades on Wednesday. Other ADAG stocks -  Reliance Communications, Reliance Mediaworks and Reliance Capital were up 1-4% each.

Telecom stocks dropped on reports that telecom companies will have to pay an additional Rs 24,700 crore if the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) agrees to the recommendations made by a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) panel. Idea Cellular, Tata Communications and MTNL dipped in trades.