Markets edge lower on global worries

BSE- mid-cap & small-cap underperformed benchmark indices

Indian shares edged lower in late afternoon trades on Thursday  on back of heavy selling pressure witnessed in broader markets and index heavy-weights.

Risk appetite was frail on geo-political concerns after North Korea threatened a nuclear test on US coupled with a below-estimate results from Apple Inc. in the fourth quarter.

At 1:55PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex fell 90 points at  19,935.04 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty declined 30 points and traded at 6,025.85.

In the results calendar, Ashok Leyland, Biocon, Larsen & Toubro, Sesa Goa will declare its third quarter performances later today while Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Power and Tata Coffee on Jan 25th.

Globally, Asian shares traded mixed in closing trades. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.15% to 23,598, Taiwan's Weighted index declined 0.6% to 7,759,  Singapore's Straits Times inched up 0.5% to 3,247  while China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.8% to 2,302 and Japan's Nikkei rose 1.3% to 10,620.

In Europe, France's CAC shed 0.3% to 3,715, Germany's DAX declined 0.4% to 7,679 while UK's FTSE was down 0.19% to 6,187.

Back home, autos, banks, real-estate, metals, consumer durables, health care indexes  dropped while apital goods, FMCG, IT  indexes gained on BSE.

Among key Sensex stocks, Larsen & Toubro gained 1.6%, ONGC was up 1.5%, TCS and Wipro gained over 1%, HUL & ITC rose 0.8% each  on BSE.

Among losers, Tata Motors tanked 6.2% while Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto dropped 2% and 1% respectively, GAIL fell 2.6%, Cipla shed 2.7%, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries declined 1.6% on BSE.

The other notable movers include Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd which slumped  nearly 15% to Rs 82 per share.

In the last two days HDIL's market capital of almost Rs 1,565 crore has been wiped out after promoter Sarang Wadhawan sold 5 million shares or 1% stake, worth Rs 57 crore in secondary markets on Tuesday, thus reducing his stake to 0.99% from 2.19%.

Tata Motors has tanked over 9% to Rs 282 on NSE after the company said that EBITDA or operating margin for December quarter (Q3) is likely to be slightly lower than in the previous two quarters.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have rallied up to 6% and is up 2% currently on reports that the government may raise the gas prices sometime this calendar year. ONGC has surged 6.3% to Rs 354, while Oil India soared 4% to Rs 555 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Reliance Communications (RCom) is trading lower by 4% at Rs 84.75 after reporting a 43% year-on-year (yoy) decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 105 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012 (Q3), due to higher financial charges

The broader markets traded negative  with mid-caps  and small-caps  down by 1.5-1.6% on BSE.

The market breadth was weak. Out of 2,777 stocks traded, 1,951 stocks declined compared to 706 advances on BSE.