Markets in red, Sensex plunges over 635 points

Mumbai: The markets have lost further ground and have slipped deeper in the red. Selling pressure is seen in scrips across sectors.

All the key BSE indices were in red, however IT index is trading flat and select telecom stocks are trading in green. BSE midcap and smallcap index were down 2 per cent each.

Metal, realty, capital goods and oil & gas stocks are among the worst hit. The breadth is exremely weak as pressure is seen in all the sectors.

Cues from Asia were not very encouraging as most of the Asian indices were in red.

At 1237, hrs IST, the Sensex was down 603.25 points or 3.35 per cent at 17,395.14, and the Nifty down 122.95 points or 2.30 per cent at 5228.05.

About 798 shares have advanced, 2178 shares declined, and 75 shares are unchanged. On the macroeconomic front, inflation came in at a 5 year low after 2002 at 3.07 per cent.

Top losers on the indices are Reliance Energy, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki, BHEL and Bharti Airtel are each down over 7 per cent. Top gainers on the Nifty are VSNL up 4 per cent, MTNL up 1 per cent and Infosys up 1 per cent.

Most active shares on NSE are Reliance at Rs 2,464 with 1,436,692 shares, Reliance Comm at Rs 712.90 with 3,923,061 shares and Reliance Energy at Rs 1,431 with 1,352,063 shares.

Earlier in the day, the markets opened on a very weak note on the back of heavy selling seen across the board. Cues from the Asian markets were not encouraging today and the breadth in the opening trade were were negative. All the key indices on BSE were in red.

Asian markets Asian markets were trading mixed today. Japan's Nikkei slipped 1.59 per cent or 271.98 points at 16,834.11, Singapore's Straits Times declined 1.14 per cent or 43.56 points at 3,766.13, South Korea's Seoul Composite fell 0.69 per cent or 13.87 points at 1,991.22.

However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.57 per cent or 166.34 points at 29,465.05. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was up 0.10 per cent or 9.79 points at 9,646.86.

US markets: The Dow slipped 3.58 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 13,888.96. The Standard & Poor's index fell 1.16 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 1,540.08. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite Index added 6.64 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 2,799.31.