Markets remain in red

Markets continue to languish in afternoon trades, albeit off the day's lows. The Sensex is now down 17 points at 19,965. Nifty is down 16 points at 6,010.

The Nifty had touched a low of 5,987 in noon trades on selling pressure in select stocks. Throughout the day the markets remained volatile, mirroring Asian indices which showed some effect of the Chinese rate hike.

Nifty Junior has dropped 0.17% at 12,920. Bank Nifty is down 0.25% at 12,217. Metal indices have also dropped.

BPCL has gained 1.7% in a more-or-less negative market. The other gainers in the index include Tata Power and Ranbaxy.

Larsen & Toubro, NTPC and Mahindra & Mahindra have added over 1% each.

However, metal stocks continue to trade in red. Sterlite has dropped 3% to Rs 171. Sesa Goa has shed 2.8% at Rs 349. Tata Steel and Sail have dropped 2% each to Rs 619 and Rs 220, respectively. Hindalco is also down 1%.

HDFC has declined 2.7% to Rs 701. Suzlon, IDFC and ITC have shed 1% each in trades.