Domestic bourses continued to trade lower during the noon trading session.
Retail inflation, measured by the consumer price index (CPI), eased marginally in February but remained stubbornly above the 6% mark for the second straight month. Data released on Monday revealed that retail inflation stood at 6.44% in February against 6.52% in January. It stood at 6.07% a year ago. Both food and core inflation remained sticky and elevated at over 6% last month and the price pressures were higher in rural areas than urban centres.
European markets traded in a mixed manner while their Asian peers witnessed significant selling pressure.
At 14:30 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 57911.01 down by -326.84 points or by -0.56 % and then NSE Nifty was at 17020.6 down by -133.7 points or by -0.78 %.
Sensex touched intraday high of 58490.98 and intraday low of 57721.16 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 17224.65 and intraday low of 16987.1
The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Titan Company Ltd. (Rs. 2359.45,+1.06%), IndusInd Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1070.00,+0.94%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Rs. 962.50,+0.87%), ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 831.00,+0.43%), Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (Rs. 2142.25,+0.28%), among others.
The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1162.20,-2.76%), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (Rs. 3220.85,-1.88%), Bajaj Finance Ltd. (Rs. 5737.00,-1.84%), HCL Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 1079.70,-1.73%), Wipro Ltd. (Rs. 379.50,-1.72%), among others.
HCS index was at 21490.86 up by 6.19 points or by 0.03%. Indoco Remedies Ltd. (Rs. 348.30,+4.66%), Gland Pharma Ltd. (Rs. 1198.95,+3.80%), Fermenta Biotech Ltd. (Rs. 137.00,+3.51%), Sequent Scientific Ltd. (Rs. 75.64,+2.72%), Solara Active Pharma Sciences Ltd. (Rs. 366.30,+2.33%),.
IT index was at 28507.93 down by -442.01 points or by -1.53%. Xelpmoc Design and Tech Ltd. (Rs. 106.05,-8.50%), Allied Digital Services Ltd. (Rs. 85.00,-8.42%), Black Box Ltd. (Rs. 90.30,-6.04%), Nucleus Software Exports Ltd. (Rs. 538.50,-5.03%), Intellect Design Arena Ltd. (Rs. 405.85,-4.22%),.
The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 3804 , shares advanced were 1106 while 2567 shares declined and 131 were unchanged.