Markets remain subdued; Sensex down 150pts

Markets remained subdued in the past one hour of trade the Sensex was lower by 154 points at 17,437 and the S&P CNX Nifty lost 35 points at 5217.

Most of the Asian markets ended the day in the red, the Taiwan ended at 8836 lower by 170 points, Nikkei lost 12 points to end at 10,605, Seoul ended at 2008 lower by 37 points. However Shanghai was an exception, the index ended at 2819 up 45 points. Hang Seng was also trading lower by 383 points at 22,780.

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(Updated at 12.30)

Weakness was visible in the last hour of trade, the Sensex was lower by 185 points at 17,407 and the S&P CNX Nifty was at 5213 lower by 39 points.

Bharti Airtel was the top loser among the Sensex stocks, the stock had shed 4% and was trading at Rs 319, State Bank of India lost 3.6% and was at Rs 2496. BHEL, HDFC, Cipla, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Sterlite Industries and Reliance Industries were also trading lower by 1.7-2.7% each.

On the other hand Reliance Infrastructure was the top gainer the stock added 8.6% to Rs 580. ITC, Jaiprakash Associates, Hero Honda, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and NTPC were also among the gainers.

On the sectoral front BSE Realty index continued the negative run consecutively for the second day, the index shed 4.2% or 88 points to 1995. Consumer Durables, IT, Metal Oil & Gas and PSU indices were lower by 1-2.3% each. Capital goods and  banking stocks also witnessed the selling pressure. Meanwhile, FMCG, Auto, Power and Healthcare indices were trading marginally in the green.

Sunteck Realty was the top gainer among the realty stocks down 18% to Rs 39. Parsvanath Developers, Unitech, Anant Raj Industries, Orbit Corp, Sobha Developers and Mahindra Lifespace were also among the losers. Among the consumer durable stocks Bajaj Electricals was the top loser followed by VIP Industries, Gitanjali Gems, Videocon Industries, Titan Industries and Rajesh Exports.

The broader markets also traded with a negative bias with BSE small-cap index losing 2% or 154 points at 7497 and the mid-cap index shed 83 points to 6216.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2024 stocks declined while 686 stocks advanced.