Sensex falls over 150 points; index heavyweights drag

At 11:20am, the S&P BSE Sensex was lower by 166 points at 25,166 and the Nifty50 slipped 40 points at 7,675

Markets have extended losses owing to the selling pressure in bluechips and energy shares coupled with a weakness in Asian equities.

At 11:20am, the S&P BSE Sensex was lower by 166 points at 25,166 and the Nifty50 slipped 40 points at 7,675.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading weak following a terror attack in Brussels.  Nikkei, Hang Seng, and Shanghai Composite are trading lower by 0.2%-0.5% each.

On the currency front, the rupee has shed another 8 paise to 66.79 against the dollar in early trade.

In the commodity space, oil has edged lower amid uncertainty over supply glut. The major oil producing nations are expected to take decision on production freeze in their meeting next month.

KEY STOCKS

Sectorally, BSE Oil&Gas index is under pressure, down over 1% followed by BSE FMCG index, down by 0.7%.

The top losers on the Sensex are HDFC twins, Gail India, NTPC, down between 1%-2% each.

Individually, Reliance Industries is pulling the market down as stock has slumped 2%. Reliance Jio might delay the launch of its much-awaited mobile broadband service (4G) to the end of this year.

Among its oil peers, ONGC, Cairn India has dropped 1.5-1.7% each.

Mahindra & Mahindra group announced its entry in the branded dairy products business on Tuesday. Shares of M&M have dropped 0.1%

Moody's Investor Service, the ratings agency, on Tuesday said Bharti's recently announced deals (African tower sale agreement with ATC and spectrum trading pact with Videcon) are credit positive. Bharti Airtel has gained over 2%.

Maruti Suzuki India announced that it has received 20,000 bookings within the launch of compact SUV Vitara Brezza. It plans to start delivering the new model to customers from March 25. The stock has advanced 0.5%.

Other notable gainers are Hero Motocorp, Tata Steel, Coal India, up between 0.4%-1.4% each.

 BPCL plans to spend about Rs 10,000 crore in 2016-17 to expand and upgrade its refining capacity and augment its marketing infrastructure. The stock has gained 0.3%