 "Markets extend losses as capital goods, metal shares weigh")
By 1435, the Sensex was down 85 points at 19,555 and the Nifty declined 27 points to 5,932. The Sensex and the Nifty touched an intra-day low of 19,550 levels and 5,931 mark, respectively.
On the global front, Asian shares and the euro paused on Thursday, marking time ahead of a European Central Bank policy decision and remarks from ECB President Mario Draghi on prospects for the euro zone economy. Nikkei, strait Times, Hang Seng and Shanghai have declined between 0.3-1%.
Back home, India’s economic growth rate this fiscal is estimated to be sharply lower at 5%, lowest in a decade, on account of poor performance of manufacturing, agriculture and services sector.
India's economic growth likely eased further to around 4.8% in the quarter ending in December, mainly as a result of deep cuts in government spending, a senior official at the statistics ministry said.
"It is disappointing. My own estimate is when the full year data becomes available, it can be revised upward," said C Rangarajan, the chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. Despite the revision, the economy could still grow at 5.5% or more for the current fiscal year ending March, he said.
On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durable index has slumped by almost 3% followed by counters like Realty, Power, Metal, Capital Goods, PSU, Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Banks, all declining by 1% each. However, BSE IT index is up by 1%.
Capital goods shares like L&T and BHEL are down by over 1% each. Manufacturing growth is expected to drop to 1.9% in this fiscal, from 2.7% last year.
From the Consumer Durable segment, Bajaj Electricals, Rajesh Exports, Titan Inds and Videocon have declined between 2-3%.
Among Power sector, Sterlite is the top Sensex loser, down over 3%. NTPC is trading lower by almost 3%, extending its previous day’s 2.1% fall, after the government proposes to offload its 9.5% stake in the company through the offer for sale (OFS) route. Tata Power is down by almost 1%.
Cipla is trading lower by 2.5% after reporting a lower-than-expected 25.5% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 339 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012 (Q3). Analysts on an average had expected profit of Rs 374 crore from the drug maker.
Other notable losers include Bharti Airtel, GAIL, Tata Steel, JSPL, Hero Moto, ICICI Bank and SBI.
On the gaining side, HDFC, TCS, M&M and Tata Motors have gained by 1% each.
Among other shares, shares of Strides Arcolab have dropped 12% to Rs 923 in noon trade today amid uncertainty over the sale of its injectables-medicine unit Agila Specialities.
Godrej Industries has surged in trades after posting better-than-expected numbers for the quarter ending December 2012.
The broader markets are underperforming the benchmark indices in trades today. The BSE mid-cap index has slipped 1% and the small-cap index is down 1.27%.