Markets subdued, selling pressure visible across the board

DRL, RIL, Tata Motors and Infosys among the top losers

Markets continue to trades on a subdued note in the noon deals on the back of selling pressure visible across the board. The Sensex is down 70 points at 19,427 and the 50-share Nifty has slipped 28 points to 5,869 levels.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets are also trading on a subdued note  with investors turned cautious as weak euro zone growth data presaged the G20 meeting in this session and on Saturday in Moscow.

Hang Seng was up 6 points at 19,434, Nikkei slipped 133 points to 11,173, Straits Times is down 12 points at 3,278 and the Seoul Composite was flat at 1,981.

Back home, Dr Reddy's Labs is the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 2% at Rs 1,839 after the Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to neutral with a target price of Rs 1,975 after dismal performance in the third quarter.

Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, Jindal Steel, Cipla, Maruti Suzuki, Coal India, Infosys,  Bharti Airtel and Wipro are also trading weaker by 1-1.6% each.

On the other hand, Tata Power, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, NTPC, GAIL India, BHEL, ONGC and Sterlite Industries are among the notable gainers.

All the sectoral indices are in the negative territory. The BSE realty index is the top loser, down 1% or 21 points at 2,016. Oil & gas, IT, consumer durables, metal, auto and healthcare indices are also down 0.4-1% each.

The broader markets are also facing the heat of selling pressure. The BSE mid-cap index is down 0.4% at 6,581 and the small-cap index has shed 1% to 6,519 levels.

The overall market breadth is negative as 1687 stocks are declining while 788 are advancing.