Markets slip into the red; IT weighs

IT heavyweights, TCS, Infosys and Wipro along with Reliance Industries among the top losers

Markets slipped into the negative territory in noon trades on profit taking at higher levels. The ones weighing down the indices were Reliance Industries and the IT majors, TCS, Infosys and Wipro.

At 1330 hrs, the Sensex was down 27 points at 20,740 and the NIfty gave off 14 points to trade at 6,164

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(Updated at 1330 hrs)

Markets continue to trade on a strong note with index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, L&T and ITC leading the noon gains.

At 1310 hrs, the Sensex was up 110 points at 20,878 and the Nifty edged higher by 30 points to trade at 6,209.

In the broader markets, the midcap index gained 0.7% and the smallcap index added 0.4%.

Barring IT and Health Care indices, losing between 0.1-0.8%, all the other were in the positive territory with gains of atleast 0.3%.

The top sectoral gainers were Consumer Durables, Bankex, Capital Goods and Auto indices gaining 1-1.5%.

The major gainers among the Sensex-30 were Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, L&T, Tata Motors and Tata Power with gains between 1-2.5%.

Among the ones in the red were Wipro, TCS, Dr Reddys Lab, Coal India and Hindalco down 1-2%.

Cipla, Baja Auto and Reliance Industries lost 0.4-0.7%.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE. 1,217 stocks advanced while 1,134 stocks declined.

In Asia, Chinese shares slipped in volatile trade on Thursday as a further spike in China's money-market rates tempered the effect of a survey showing a pick-up in manufacturing.

China's CSI300 index dipped 0.2% in choppy trade after sliding 2.1% in the previous two sessions, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.7%.

Japan's Nikkei share average eased 0.4% in relatively light trade, also hurt by a firmer yen against the dollar.

But MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.1%, having fallen 0.9% on Wednesday to end a four-day winning streak.

Major European indices FTSE, DAX and CAC opened up as much as 0.3-0.6%, rebounding from yesterday's decline.