Sensex down - ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC drag

Mumbai: The Nifty continues to be below the 4700-mark, weighed down by banks, metals, auto and power stocks. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries too added some pressure on the market, with 1.6 per cent loss. The Sensex was down 73 points to 15,654.86 and the Nifty fell 23 points to 4,682.75.

According to Anil Manghnani of Modern Shares Manghnani, the weakness in the rupee is the reason for the reversal in the market. "To see the rupee tank again above 53.30 is little discomforting and I think maybe that's playing on the markets mind right now," he explained. The rupee depreciated by 44 paise to 53.41 a dollar.

Shares Jindal Steel continued to slide, falling 2.5 per cent. Tata Power saw profit booking, losing 2.5 per cent.

Among banks, shares of country's largest lenders ICICI Bank and SBI slipped 0.5 per cent each; HDFC Bank was down 0.2 per cent.

Infosys, HUL, HDFC, L&T and Tata Motors among other largecaps were down over 0.4 per cent.

However, TCS, ONGC, Coal India and BHEL outperformed, gaining 0.3-0.8 per cent.

The market was negative; about 809 shares advanced while 1033 shares declined on the BSE.

At 9:19 hours IST : Sensex falls 50 pts amid volatility; ICICI Bank, L&T down

The Sensex opened with 0.5 per cent gap down on expiry day, tracking concerns in the euro zone. Capital goods, metals and banks stocks were under pressure. The Sensex was down 45.6 points at 15,682.23 and the Nifty fell 17.5 points to 4,688.30 amid volatility.

Shares of frontrunners - PNB, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Capital, Reliance Infra, Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto were dragging the markets down.

Shares of HUL, ITC, ONGC and Reliance Power were on buyers' radar.

The CNX Midcap declined 30 points to 6,100. About three shares gained for every share falling on the National Stock Exchange.

Among the second line shares, DCB, Yes Bank, UCO Bank and Arvind fell 1-2.5 per cent.

Everonn Education tanked 5 per cent and Kingfisher Airlines lost 2.5 per cent.

About seven IPOs came in under SEBI scanner, citing wide price fluctuation on listing day. Taksheel Solutions and Tijaria Polypipes tanked 5 per cent each. One Life was down 15 per cent and Brooks Labs plunged 9 per cent. PG Electroplast crashed 18 per cent.

3i Infotech gained 2 per cent as company approved plan to restructure corporate debt.

Jaypee Infra shot up 14 per cent.

On the global front, the European Central Bank's balance sheet surged to a record of EUR 2.73 trillion while overnight deposits jumped to an all time high of EUR 452 billion on Wednesday. Every one is watching Italian bond auction.

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