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Markets continued to trade lower with 50-share Nifty index struggling to hold 5,700 support levels as fear over scale-back of US Federal Reserve bond-buying plan limited overseas flows.
At 1:10PM, the 30-share Sensex fell 204 points at 18,837 and the 50-share Nifty shed 56 points at 5,704 levels.
Meanwhile, growth concerns continued to weigh after country’s industrial production grew less than expected, at 2 percent in April from a year earlier.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)- based inflation, however, came down to 9.31% in May from 9.39% in April, government data showed on Wednesday.
Investors will now focus on Friday’s wholesale price inflation (WPI) data which is expected to remain in the central bank’s comfort level of 5 per cent. An easing inflation will provide RBI more elbow-room to reduce interest rates in the June 17 monetary policy review.
The rupee extended fall on Thursday following comments from the finance minister as he failed to announce any clear and strong measures to arrest the sharp decline in the rupee seen in recent weeks.
After strengthening 70 paise yesterday, it weakend again in early trade. It is currently trading at Rs 58.43 per dollar at 12 noon.
In Asia, the Nikkei slumped 7% to 12,445, Singapore Straits Times declined 1.2% to 3,115, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.4% to 20,844 while China’s Shangahi Composite index was down 3% at 2,148.
European stocks fell for a fourth day, with the benchmark index sliding to a seven-week low, as the World Bank cut its global growth forecast.
France’s CAC fell 1% to 3,751, Germany’s DAX dropped 1.7% to 8,001 and UK’s FTSE was down 1% to 6,234.
Back home, all sectoral indices declined with autos, PSU, realty and consumer durables leading drop on the BSE.
The gainers included counters such as Hindalco Industries rose 4% to Rs 96.30, Bharti Airtel rose 2.7%, SBI added 0.5%, Hero MotoCorp gained 0.4% on the BSE.
The laggards included names like Tata Motors falling 3.5%, Sun Pharma declined 3%, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto dropped 2.4%, ITC fell 2%, BHEL was down 1.7% on the BSE.
The key notable movers included counters such as Sun Pharmaceutical Industries which has dipped almost 7% to Rs 916 on BSE, after the company said it will pay a lump-sum of around Rs 3,100 crore ($550 million) to settle litigation over sale of the generic pantoprazole drug in the US.
Apollo Tyres has tanked 17% to Rs 76.35 in early morning deals on BSE after the company said it will acquire US-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Company in an all-cash transaction of around Rs 14,500 crore ($2.5 billion).
The broader markets traded negative with mid-caps and small-caps falling 1 per cent each on the BSE.
The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,162 stocks traded so far, 1,406 stocks declined while 616 advanced on the BSE.
