Markets trading near day's low, Asian cues weigh

BSE Realty Index was the top loser among sectoral indices on the BSE down nearly 6% followed by Power, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas, Auto and Bankex among others, all slumping betwe

Markets continue to trade near day's low on the back of Asian cues along with intense selling in capital goods, banks and auto shares.

At 1245 hrs, the Sensex was down 280 points at 19,782 after touching a low of 19,697. The Nifty slipped 102 points to 5,993 after touching the intraday low of 5,972.

On the global front, the Nikkei share average plunged 7.3% on Thursday, its biggest one-day percentage drop in two years after weak Chinese factory data rattled investors, prompting them to take profits from a recent rally buoyed by massive Bank of Japan stimulus measures.

The Nikkei ended 1,143.28 points lower at 14,483.98, a two-week low. It was the 11th-largest point drop on record. The Osaka Securities Exchange briefly suspending trade in Nikkei futures in the afternoon due to steep declines. Trading was volatile. The benchmark had climbed to a 5-1/2-year high earlier in the session.  

The broader Topix index sank 6.9% to 1,188.34, with a record high 7.66 billion shares changing hands.   As stocks dropped sharply, investors sought safety in government bonds, with the 10-year Japanese government bond yield down 6 basis points at 0.825%. The 10-year yield hit 1.00% in the morning session, its highest since early April last year.

European markets too have opened weak tracking Asian markets. CAC, DAX and FTSE down 2% each.

Back home, the rupee fell below the key psychological level of 56 to the dollar on Thursday, its lowest level in over 8-1/2 months, as the dollar rallied on worries about a potentially early end to US monetary stimulus.

The BSE Realty Index was the top loser among sectoral indices on the BSE down nearly 6% followed by Power, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas, Auto and Bankex among others, all slumping between 2-4%.

Shares of real estate, infrastructure and capital goods companies are under hammer in noon deal with many of them tanked over 6% each on the bourses after hawkish comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and weakness in China's factory activity.

Unitech, Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), Jaiprakash Associates, Reliance Infrastructure, Indiabulls Real Estate, DLF and Anant Raj Industries from real estate and infrastructure sectors are down by more than 7% each.

Crompton Greaves, BEML, Punj Lloyd, BHEL, Larsen and Toubro, Alstom India and Siemens from capital goods space are fallen in the range of 4-8% on BSE.

Auto shares also witnessed profit taking after recent gains. In the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were down 1-5% each.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries was down nearly 3% while ITC slipped 2%.

Larsen & Toubro extended losses today and was down over 4% after the engineering conglomerate on Wednesday reported worse-than-expected 6.9% year-on-year decline in net profit at Rs 1,788 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 (Q4) due to higher interest costs. India's biggest engineering and construction firm had profit of Rs 1,920 crore in a year ago quarter.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is trading 4% down ahead of its Q4 (January-March) results today.

In the banking pack, ICICI Bank was down 3.3% and SBI was down 2.7%.

The market breadth in BSE remains weak with 1,618 shares declining and 432 shares advancing.