Markets recover partially

The markets have recovered partially in the last few minutes of trade. The Sensex is now down 58 points at 17,824, and the Nifty is down 24 points at 5,044.
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(Updated at 1328 hrs)

There has been no let-up in selling pressure in the noon session. The Sensex is at  16716, lower by 166 points and the Nifty is at 5013, down 55 points. The midcap index is at 5811, lower by 96 points and the smallcap index is at 6334, down   127 points.

The global scene appears equally bleak. Asian stock markets took a second day of losses Wednesday on worries over Europe’s fiscal health, with the Hang Seng, Seoul and Taiwan shedding between 1% and 2% each. European stocks are set to fall at opening bell, with spreadbetters seeing London's FTSE 100 opening down 0.6%, Frankfurt's DAX down 0.9%, and Paris' CAC-40 0.6% lower. And trading in Wall Steet suggests that dow futures could slide by 77 points later in the day.

Back home, the capital goods index has touched 30-mth lows due to a slowdown in order inflows. BHEL has tanked as much as 6.9% at Rs 289 and L&T has dived by 4.5% at Rs 1229. Hero MotoCorp and Hindalco have weakened by 2-3% each.

On the other hand, M&M has strengthened by 2.3% at Rs 776, ONGC has gained 1.6% at Rs 263 and SBI has added 1.2% at Rs 1750.

The market breadth is weak. Out of 2730 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 577 advancing stocks as against 2059 declines.