The Sensex fell 292 points to 9,877 and the Nifty lost 81 points to 2,983, at 12:22 pm. BSE Midcap and Small Cap indices plunged over 2.5% each.
Among the frontliners, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Tata Motors, HDFC, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular slipped 8-11%. However, the gainers were ITC, BHEL, Grasim, Infosys, Wipro and BPCL.
The market breadth continues to be weak; about 842 shares have advanced while 2123 shares have declined. Nearly 225 shares are unchanged.
The selling in metal, auto, oil, banking, telecom and realty stocks is putting pressure on the benchmark indices. Asian markets have recovered a bit from lows of the day, but are still under pressure.
The long only funds continue to be seller across the region. The mood is extremely cautious; selling pressure is seen at every higher level. Citi and Deutsche Bank have downgraded Reliance Petroleum (RPL) to sell. The Citi has revised RPL price target lower to Rs 105 from Rs 155. The Reliance Industries is under selling pressure ahead of its results.
Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock Broking said that it’s the time now to restructure the portfolios. One must exit from junks stocks as they have fallen 80-90% and move on to fresh sectors and stocks which seem to be leaders going ahead.
