Markets extend losses

Markets slumped once again in late morning trades. The indices had recovered from its lowest in four-weeks after investors took to bargain hunting in select sectors in mid-morning trades but dropped following weakness in banking space. The Sensex was down 231 points at 19,460 and Nifty was down 72 points at 5,832.

Markets are awaiting the slew of corporate results from Thursday onwards. India Inc's earnings is expected to decide the direction of the market thereafter.

Globally stocks were weak on continued worries of the Euro zone debt crisis. Asian markets were trading in the red.

Banking sector witnessed some pressures and slipped 0.1%. HDFC Bank, KOtak Bank and Bank of India were the big losers in the sector.

US software firm iGate plans to host a press conference on Monday at which it is widely expected to announce a deal to buy Patni Computer for more than $900 million.

HDFC shed 3.6% to Rs 659. Hero Honda, Sun Pharma and Larsen & Toubro slipped 3% each.

Other big losers in trades today were Wipro, BHEL, Jindal Steel and IDFC, NTPC, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's and ONGC were down over 1% each.

On the other hand, Sterlite added 1.8% to Rs 179. Axis Bank and Punjab National Bank added 0.8% each in trades. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Infrastructure and Tata Powerwere also in green.