Nifty below 5,700 levels in early noon deals; FMCG weighs

Hindustan Unilever,ITC, ICICI Bank and Coal India among the top draggers

Markets continue to trade marginally in the red with both the Sensex and the Nifty trading lower by over 0.4%. The ones weighing on the indices were FMCG majors, ICICI Bank and Coal India.

At 1250 hrs, the Sensex was down 75 points at 19,242 and the Nifty slipped 31 points to trade at 5,697.

Meanwhile, broader markets continued to reel under selling pressure with both the mid and smallcap indices losing 0.6-0.7%.

The rupee lost 38 paise to 60.81 against the dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on higher demand for the US currency from importers, even as RBI took more measures to curb the domestic unit's fall.

In Asia, shares advanced on Friday after brisk U.S. factory activity data and a commitment to easy monetary policy by European central banks and the Federal Reserve buoyed Wall Street to record highs overnight.

Japan's Nikkei share average rose 2.7%, while ex-Japan Asian shares gained 0.3%. Shares in South Korea and Hong Kong hit two-month peaks.

Back home, among the sectoral indices, Consumer Durables, IT, Oil & Gas and Teck were the only indices trading in the green, up 1-4%. On the other hand, Metal, Power, PSU, FMCG and Auto indices were down between 1-4%.

The top gainers among the Sensex-30 were Wipro up 2.5% along with Reliance Industries, BHEL, TCS, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC and SBI which added 0.5-2%.

On the losing side were metal names like Jindal Steel, Sterlite, Tata Steel and Hindalco down 2-9.5%.

FMCG majors, Hindustan Unilever and ITC continue to remain in the red, losing 3% and 0.7% respectively.

Coal India, Dr Reddys Lab, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Power, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors down 1-6% were the other notable losers.

The market breadth was negative on the BSE. 1,269 stocks declined while 665 stocks advanced.