Nifty nears 6,030; Cipla down 6.5%

Meanwhile, auto and realty scrips buck trend;Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors up 1%

Markets continue to trade in the negative territory with the Sensex down 142 points at 20,307 and the Nifty gave off 52 points to trade at 6,032 in noon trades. Losses in financials weighed on the indices with the HDFC twins leading the downfall.

In the broader markets, the midcap index was down 0.3% and the smallcap index was down 0.5%, both marginally outperforming the Sensex which slipped over 0.7%.

All the sectoral indices except Realty and Auto indices were in the red.

Bankex, Power and Oil & Gas indices down over 1% each were the top sectoral losers.

Capital Goods, Health Care, Metal, Teck and Consumer Durables indices were down 0.3-0.8%.

Sesa Sterlite, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors up 1% each were the top gainers among Sensex-30. TCS and Sun Pharma which added 0.7% and 0.4% rounded off the gainers list.

Cipal down 6.5% continued to remain the top loser after reporting 17% year-on-year (yoy) fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 284 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3FY14), due to higher cost.  The pharmaceutical company had profit of Rs 340 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Coal India, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, BHEL and Tata Power down 2-3.5% were the major draggers in noon deals.

The market breadth was negative on the BSE. 1426 stock  declined while 821 stocks advanced.

Global Markets

Asian shares stepped back from three-week highs on Thursday, snapping a five-session winning streak that was underpinned by receding concerns about global growth prospects and reassurance over U.S. monetary policy.

There was also an element of caution, with some investors restraining bullish instincts until they see more solid evidence of a strengthening global economy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7% after having gained 4.5% in the previous five sessions. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.8% after a 4.6% rise in the past three days.

Markets are still sitting on solid gains that stem from relief over the continuity in Federal Reserve policy and pressure coming off emerging markets.

The European markets started higher. CAC, DAX and FTSE gained 0.04-0.6%.