Sensex down over 200 pts on profit-taking

Markets continue to edge lower in noon trades as profit-taking in heavyweights weigh on the indices. The ones leading the fall were heavyweight name like ITC, Reliance industries, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors.

At 1300 hrs, the Sensex was down 209 points at 19,764 and the Nifty slipped 54 points to trade at 5,842.

Meanwhile, the broader markets gained in noon deals with the midcap index up 0.8% and the smallccap index was up 0.4%, both outperforming as compared to the 0.9% loss seem on the BSE benchmark index.

In Asia, stocks stalled after nine days of gains, while investors gave the safe-haven yen a wide berth on growing optimism for the Chinese economy and receding worries about U.S. military strikes on Syria.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1%, having earlier hit a fresh three-month high.

Tokyo's Nikkei outperformed thanks to a weaker yen, which tends to boost demand for exporters such as Toyota. The Nikkei closed flat after reversing earlier gains.

European markets were mixed with CAC and FTSE down 0.1-0.2% while DAX was up 0.2%

Back home, on the sectoral front, Metal index was up 1% followed by gains in Capital Goods, Realty and Health Care indices which added 0.2-0.4%.

All the other sectoral indices were in the red with Consumer Durables, FMCG, Oil & Gas, Bankex and Power indices losing over 1% each. Auto, PSU, Teck and IT indices were down 0.1-0.8%.

Among the Sensex-30, metal stocks were the top gainers with Hindalco, Tata Steel and Sesa Goa up 1-2.5%.

Hero MotoCorp, Wipro, L&T, Sun Pharma and Maruti Suzuki up 1% each were the other notable gainers.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC, ITC and ICICI Bank were down 2-3% and were the major losers in noon trades.

BHEL, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Cipla and Gail India down 1% each were the other major losers.

The market breadth was positive owing to the gains in broader markets. 1,102 stocks advanced while 943 stocks declined on the BSE.