Markets remain under pressure

Markets continued to trade in the negative territory. The Sensex was at 19,916 down 266 points and the Nifty was at 5967 lower by 81 points.

Hindalco Industries was the top loser on the Sensex the stock shed more than 5% and was trading at Rs 237. Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and Mahindra & Mahindra were down more than 4% each. Tata Steel, Wipro, HDFC, DLF, TCS and HDFC Bank were also trading lower by more than 1.9% each. On the other hand Reliance Communication, ICICI Bank, Reliance Infrastructure and Cipla were some notable gainers.

On the sectoral front, BSE banking index- Bankex managed to recover from its low levels but soon slipped into the negative territory. The index was down 16 points or 0.13% at 12,687. BSE Auto index continued continued to remain the top sectoral loser, the index was lower by more than 2% or 209 points at 9569, followed by metal, consumer durables, IT and oil & gas indices down more than 0.6% each.

Among the banking stocks Indusind Bank was the top loser down 3.8% at Rs 234 followed by Yes Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank.

Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra, Exide Industries, Tata Motors and Cummins India were among the top losers among the auto stocks down more than 2% each. Hindalco Industries was the top loser among the metal stocks
the stock shed more than 4.5% and was trading at Rs 238 followed by NMDC, JSW Steel, SAIL, Sesa Goa, Bhushan Steel, Tata Steel and NALCO.

The broader markets remained under the intense selling pressure the BSE mid-cap index was trading lower by more than 1% or 80 points at 7581 and the small-cap index was lower by 109 points at 9529. The BSE 500 market breadth was extremely negative as 396 stocks declined while 100 stocks advanced.

Shiv Vani Oil was the top loser among the mid-cap stocks, the stock was trading lower by more than 5% at Rs 366. Money Matter Financial Services, Ruchi Soya, GVK Power, Shree Ashtvinayaka Cine Vision and Polaris Software were also some of the major losers, down more than 4.5% each. Among the small-cap stocks Quadrant Televentures was the top loser followed by Simplex Projects, Fame India, Shristi Infra, Sezal Glass and VIP Industries, down more than 5% each.