Markets extend losses led by heavyweights

SBI down 3.5%

After witnessing a gap-down opening, the BSE Sensex is currently at 16,537, down 294 points and the Nifty at 4,994, down 92 points.Thus far, the Sensex had touched an intra-low of 16,517 and the Nifty touched an intra-day low of 4,990.

The broader indices are trading dismal in line with the benchmarks – BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down 1-2 percent.

Asian markets also took a beating, with Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average down nearly 3 percent along with Hang Seng, Straits Times losing 2 percent each.

Among the sectoral indices, Realty, banking  and IT have shed 2 percent each closely followed by Metal, PSU and Oil&Gas indices, down over 1.5 percent each.

The only gainers among the Sensex stocks were BHEL, Cipla up 1 percent and 0.6 percent respcetively.

On the losing side, SBI, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank, Sterlite, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel down 2-3 percent were the top losers.

Among other stocks, TTK Prestige tanked 19 percent to Rs 2,840 on reporting lower-than-expected 19 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in net profit at Rs 20 crore for Q4FY12.

The market breadth has weakened further with 1,657 declining and 674 shares advancing.