Markets dip further on selling in RIL,banks

The markets were further down in late morning trades tracking weakness in Asia with index heavyweight Reliance Industries and financial shares leading the  decline.

At 1120 hrs, the Sensex was down 129 points at 15,720 and the 50 share Nifty declined 38 points at 4,709.

On the global front, the Asian markets are down on rising eurozone concerns. Hang Seng, Straits Times, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted have fallen between by  nearly 1% each whereas Shanghai is trading firm.

Back home, rate sensitive sectors like Auto and Banks are leading the down slide, all dropping between 1-2%.  However, Power and Technology counters are  trading marginally positive.

Among others, the BSE Metal index has fallen by 1.6% at 9,640 levels. Jindal Steel and Power, Tata Steel, Sterlite and Hindalco have melted between 1-3%.

Coal India has dropped by 2% after the company has been refrained from implementing the new pricing regime in West Bengal till January 16.

From the Auto space, Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto have declined by almost 2% each. Hero Motocorp has fallen by almost 1%. However, Maruti Suzuki has
gained 1%.

In the Sensex pack, index heavyweight Reliance Industries is down nearly 1% while oil exploration major ONGC too is down 1%.

Among other frontline shares, Bharti and L&T too are under pressure, falling between 2-3%.

Bank shares have dipped on concerns of rising non-performing assets while mortgage lender HDFC is down ahead of its Oct-Dec results on worries that growth in  home loans would be impacted following poor home loan demand on the back of rising interest rates.

In the banking space, ICICI Bank and SBI have plunged by  2% each while HDFC Bank is marginally down.

FMCG majors ITC and HUL have dropped 0.5-1% after rising last week as food inflation fell sharply.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices. BSE Midcap index is marginally down whereas the BSE Smallcap index has gained by almost 1%.

Pratibha industries has gained nearly 9% in trade today after the company informed that it has bagged orders worth Rs 772 crore.

Strides Arcolab are up 1.2% at Rs 400 on reports that the company is planning to sell its Australian branded-generics unit.

The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,169 shares advancing and 984 shares declining.