Sensex slips 90pts, RIL, auto stocks weigh

The markets slipped to fresh day's lows in early noon deals, after the European markets opened on a negative note. The Sensex touched a low of 17,000, and is now down 88 points at 17,011. However, the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices have out-performed the benchmark indices with a gain of 0.4% each at 6,452 and 7,325, respectively.

The NSE Nifty has declined 24 points at 5,116.

The markets are likely to remain a bit woobly as they await the outcome from the US Federal Reserver meeting tonight. There are expectations that the Fed may announce some for of stimulus to support the flagging economy.

Back home, the Bankex has rallied over 1% to 11,384. The Capital Goods and Power indices are the other prominent gainers up over 0.5% each. On the other hand, the BSE Oil & Gas index has slipped 1% to 8,758, and the auto index has slipped 0.6% to 8,930.

Among the index stocks - ICICI Bank has rallied nearly 2% to Rs 899. Coal India and SBI are the other prominent gainers. On the other hand, Hindalco has plunged 3% to Rs 146. Maruti and Hero MotoCorp has declined around 2% each to Rs 1,129 and Rs 2,165, respectively.

Reliance and Hindustan Unilever have also shed 1.7% each at Rs 836 and Rs 338, respectively.

TCS, HDFC and Tata Steel are the other prominent losers.

The market breadth remains positive - out of 2,714 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,439 have advanced and 1,159 have declined.