Sensex down 54 pts as weakness persists

With investors treading cautiously and largely refraining from building up positions, the market has been struggling to move higher today. Despite a recovery from early fall, the key indices Sensex and Nifty faltered a little before noon and are finding the going pretty tough since then.

With the World Bank warning developing countries to prepare for the "real" risk that an escalation in the euro area debt crisis could tip the world into a slump on a par with the global downturn in 2008-09, the mood remains a bit bearish on the bourses this afternoon.

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In a report sharply cutting its world economic growth expectations, the World Bank said Europe was probably already in recession. If the euro area debt crisis deepened, global economic forecasts would be significantly lower, the World Bank said. The Bank predicted world economic growth of 2.5% in 2012 and 3.1% in 2013, well below the 3.6% growth for each year projected in June.

Even as oil stocks, led by heavyweight Reliance Industries, continue to trade firm, stocks from information technology, metal, banking and automobile sectors are languishing in negative territory with notable losses.

FMCG, power and capital goods stocks too are mostly down in the red. Select consumer durables, healthcare and realty stocks are trading higher. Midcap and smallcap stocks which saw some buying earlier in the day, are drifting lower now due to selling pressure.

The Sensex is down 54.05 points or 0.33% at 16,412, while the Nifty is down with a loss of 24 points or 0.48% at 4943.30.

Mahindra & Mahindra is down by over 3.5% at Rs 680. Tata Steel is down with a loss of 3.2%, while Wipro, BHEL and ICICI Bank are trading lower by 2% - 2.3%. GAIL India, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services are down by around 1.8%.

Sterlite Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Cipla, Hindalco, Jindal Steel and Sun Pharmaceuticals are also trading weak.

Among the gainers in the Sensex, Reliance Industries is up with a strong gain of 4% at Rs 770 following an announcement from the company that its board of directors will consider a share buy-back proposal on 20 January 2012.

ONGC is up 2.5% at Rs 268.50. Hero Motocorp, DLF, Coal India and HDFC Bank are up 1.3% - 1.8%. HDFC, Tata Power, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro are also trading firm.

Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure, IDFC, BPCL and Dr Reddy's Laboratories are among the notable gainers in the Nifty index.

Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, SAIL, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Sesa Goa and GAIL are down 2% - 3.3%. Power Grid Corporation, Grasim Industries, Punjab National Bank, HCL Technologies, ACC and Siemens are also down with notable losses. Reliance Communications, which started off on a firm note, is down by around half a percent at Rs 88.40.

Among non-Sensex IT stocks, Hexaware, Mphasis, Tech Mahindra, Financial Technologies, Polaris, Rolta India, HCL Infosys and CMC are down 1% - 4%. MindTree is bucking the trend and trading higher by about 1%.

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Essar Oil, down 13% at Rs 50.40, is the biggest loser among BSE 'A' Group stocks. Voltas has tumbled by over 9%. Alstom Projects, Crompton Greaves, Indiabulls Real Estate, JSW Ispat, United Breweries, MMTC, Tata Global Beverages, Jain Irrigation Systems, and Hindustan Zinc are also down sharply on selling pressure.