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Market continue to edge lower in the noon trades as selling in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ITC, TCS and ICICI Bank coupled with negative global cues weighed on the indices. At 1300 hrs, the Sensex was down 110 points at 19,649 and the Nifty edged lower by 38 points at 5,948.
Investors sold riskier assets amid concerns over slowing growth after country’s factory output shrank for the first time in over four years.
The overall HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which gauges business activity in Indian factories but not its utilities, sank to 50.1 in May from 51 in April, and was the third straight monthly fall.
In the broader markets, the midcap index gained 0.1%, outperforming the smallcap which was flat with a negative bias and the Sensex which lost nearly 0.7%.
In Asia, investors took profits on Monday from recent Asian share rallies in the face of uncertainty over how much longer the current U.S. stimulus would continue, while data underscoring the fragility of China's economy weighed on oil.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was choppy, inching up and down 0.2 percent and touching its lowest in nearly seven weeks. Japan's Nikkei was down 3.7%
In Europe, markets started in the red with the CAC, DAX and FTSE starting down 1-2%.
Among the sectoral indices, IT, Health Care and Metal were the only indices in the green, gaining 0.2-1%. Meanwhile, Oil & Gas, Power, Capital Goods, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Bankex and Auto indices were down 0.6-1.6%.
The top losers among the Sensex-30 were Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Reliance Industries, ONGC, ITC, TCS, L&T, Hindalco, TCS, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank losing 1-4%.
On the gaining side were Infosys up over 4% along with Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddys Lab, Gail India and Jindal Steel, up 1-2%.
The market breadth was negative on the BSE. 1151 stocks declined while 908 stocks advanced.
