There are no helping hands to provide support to global equity markets and all major indices continue to slip further. After a positive start the US indices closed lower yesterday, which has further worsened the mood in Asia. Markets across the region are trading with heavy losses today.

Redemption pressures have started rising for both domestic mutual funds and overseas investment funds investing in India and other emerging markets. The complete absence of buyers, despite the steep fall, has created a near panic situation.

Sensex opened at 9665 and went as low as 9201. The index is trading lower by 446 points at 9310 at 11.10 AM.

Nifty opened at 2857 and went on to touch a low of 2683. The index is trading lower by 141 points at 2719.

Index heavyweight ONGC has slipped over 5.5 per cent while Reliance Industries is down nearly 6 per cent.

HCL Technologies is the biggest loser among index stocks, trading nearly 12 per cent lower. TCS has lost over 4 per cent while Wipro is down over 2 per cent. Infosys and Satyam have shed 3.5 per cent each.

Among engineering stocks, ABB and BEML are down 11 per cent each while BHEL and Siemens have lost around 9 per cent each. L&T has given up close to 4 per cent.

HLL has shed close to 8 per cent while ITC is down nearly 6 per cent. Dabur has also given up 8 per cent.

Among banks, HDFC Bank is down 4 per cent while ICICI Bank has given up nearly 3.5 per cent. SBI is trading lower by almost 4 per cent.

Tata Steel is down over 6 per cent while SAIL has given up over 5 per cent.

Among autos, M&M is down over 6.5 per cent while Tata Motors and Maruti have given up over 4 per cent each. Bajaj Auto is down 4.5 per cent while Hero Honda has shed 3.5 per cent.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements is down 5.5 per cent while ACC is better off with losses of nearly 2 per cent.

Reliance Energy is down nearly 8 per cent while Tata Power is trading lower by close to 6 per cent.

Jet Airways, VSNL, ZEE Tele and Tata Chemicals are all down over 8 per cent each.

A large number of mid-caps and small caps are on their lower price circuits. Most stocks which saw some volume in opening trades are locked in the 20 per cent lower circuit. The mid-cap index is now trading with losses of over 11 per cent. There are only 7 stocks on the NSE which are trading with gains.

KEI Industries, Visaka Industries, Shah Alloy Adlabs, Panacea Biotech, Sical, India Bulls, Triveni Engineering, Man Industries, Eicher Motors and Blue Dart are some of the stocks which are locked in the 20 per cent lower circuit.