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Benchmark indices continue to witness selling pressure tracking Asian markets along with metal and financial shares leading the decline.
At 11:20 AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 90 points at 20,634, while the Nifty-50 was down by 33 points at 6,120.
Adds Mohit Gaba-Independent technical analyst & trader, “The Nifty looks sluggish and is attempting a recovery now, we could head lower in the next few days towards 6000 if the down side plays out”.
On the global front, Asian stocks tumbled on Thursday and the yen firmed as a survey painted a grim picture of China's manufacturing sector, heightening uncertainty about the outlook for the region's economic powerhouse.
Equities were already on the back foot after minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting showed it remained on track to taper its stimulus.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan extended losses after the China survey, losing 0.7%, while Japan's Nikkei stock average was down 1.2%.
Back home, the rupee lost 23 paise to 62.43 against the dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market due to increased demand for the American currency from importers.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 468.47 crore on Wednesday, 19 February 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
On the sectoral front, BSE Bankex and BSE Metal index have declined by 1% each. Sectors like Capital Goods, Power, Oil & Gas, IT and FMCG have declined marginally. However, BSE Realty and Consumer Durables indices have gained by nearly 1%.
From the financial space, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and HDFC have plunged between 0.4-1.5%.
Shares of metal companies are trading lower by up to 2% in early morning deals after China’s PMI data for the month of February fell to a seven-month low.
Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Hindalco Industries, Steel Authority of India, Jindal Steel and Power and Sesa Sterlite are down 1-2% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Other notable losers are Infosys, Sesa Sterlite, BHEL, ONGC, Bharti Airtel and M&M have slumped between 1-2%.
On the gaining side, Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy’s Labs, TCS, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Hero Moto, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors have gained between .1-2%.
Among other shares, DCM Shriram Consolidated has soared 16% to Rs 69 after the company said its board will consider the buyback of its own equity shares from the existing shareholders in forthcoming board meeting.
HMT has gained by more than 5% at Rs 31.30, extending its 17% rally in past two trading days after the company said it received approvals for its restructuring plans from the Government of India.
Rhodia Specialty is locked in upper circuit of 10% at Rs 798 after Solvay SA, one of the promoter of the company increases the delisting offer price to Rs 675 per share.
The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up over 0.1%.
The market breadth in BSE remains weak with 1,053 shares declining and 890 shares advancing.
