Sensex, Nifty remain in negative territory as weakness persists

With the mood still remaining bearish amid worries about the economic situtation in the eurozone, the market, which opened on a weak note and drifted down further as the session progressed, continues to languish in negative territory this afternoon.

Besides weak global cues, profit taking after the previous session's strong gains is also contributing the market's decline today. Amid hopes of some rate cuts following a sharp decline in inflation, the market had rallied sharply on Wednesday to hit its best closing level since early August 2011.

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Oil, metal, consumer durables and bank stocks are mostly trading weak. Automobile stocks are slightly off their lows now. Healthcare, FMCG and information technology stocks are mostly trading flat. Capital goods, realty and power stocks are finding good support. Airlines stocks are trading notably higher thanks to a reduction in aviation fuel prices.

The Sensex, which declined to 18,043.32 earlier in the day, is currently down 120.41 points or 0.66% at 18,082. The Nifty is down 32.35 points or 0.58% at 5499.60.

A fair amount of buying is taking place in midcap and smallcap segments. The Midcap index is up 0.43%, while the Smallcap barometer is trading higher by abour 0.6%. The market breadth is slightly positive.

Coal India is down by over 5% at Rs 323. Hindalco is down with a loss of 4.8% at Rs 154.50 and Sterlite Industries is trading lower by about 4% at Rs 129.50. Tata Steel is down 3.2% at Rs 479.15, while Jindal Steel, the other metal stock in the Sensex, is bucking the trend and trading stronger by over 5.5%.

Tata Motors and Reliance Industries are down 3.6% and 3.3% respectively. Sun Pharmaceuticals, GAIL India and Mahindra & Mahindra are trading lower by 2.3% - 2.6%. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever and HDFC are down 0.4% - 1.4%.

Maruti Suzuki is up 3.2% at Rs 1345. BHEL has notched up a gain of 2.5%. Tata Power is trading 2.4% up, while Cipla and Hero Motocorp are trading higher by 2.2% and 2.1% respectively. Bajaj Auto is up nearly a percent, while State Bank of India, NTPC, Infosys and ONGC are up 1% - 1.2%.

IRB Infrastructure is up nearly 10%. IFCI is up with a hefty gain of 9.2%. HDIL, Pantaloon Retail, Indian Hotels, Adani Power, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Cairn India, Manappuram Finance and Jet Air India are up 3.75% - 5.5%.

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Voltas is down more than 5% on profit taking after recent hefty gains. IndusInd Bank is down with a loss of 4.4%. Oriental Bank of Commerce, Apollo Tyres, Max India, Zee Entertainment, JP Power, Reliance Communications, Gujarat State Petronet, Motherson Sumi, Havells India and Bank of India are also down with sharp losses.