Sensex down 189 points; HLL slides 6 per cent

Frontline Indian indexes remain weak as most banking stocks and HLL have lost substantially while ONGC remains weak. Other Asian markets, except Shanghai are weak, while Europe has opened higher.

Sensex is trading lower by 189 points at 13719 at 01.10 PM IST.

Nifty is now trading lower by 45 points at 4039.

ICICI Bank remains weak by nearly 8 per cent and is still the worst performer among Nifty stocks. The stock has lost heavily following results announcement and plans to raise as much as $5 billion in additional resources. HDFC is down nearly 3 per cent.

Among other banks, PNB has lost 2.5 per cent and SBI is trading over 2 per cent lower.

HLL has slipped sharply and has lost nearly 6 per cent following results announcement.

ONGC continues to trade with losses of nearly 2 per cent.

Bharti Airtel remains weak by 2.5 per cent while MTNL has lost 2 per cent.

Among other major losers, Zee Entertainment has lost 2.5 per cent and Tata Motors is down 2 per cent.

Technology stocks remain firm, led by Infosys which is holding on to gains of 2.5 per cent. HCL Tech and TCS are trading with gains of close to 2 per cent each. Satyam has added over a per cent and Wipro is trading over 0.5 per cent higher.

Hero Honda has added nearly 1.5 per cent each.

Tata Steel and Sterlite are trading around 0.5 per cent each.

ACC and Tata Power are the other Nifty gainers.

Mid-caps and small caps are holding on to modest gains, despite the weakness in frontline large caps. The NSE mid-cap index is now trading with gains of close to 0.15 per cent. BSE mid-cap index has gained over 0.3 per cent and the BSE small-cap index is trading 0.25 per cent higher.

IFCI has gained ground and is now trading nearly 4.5 per cent higher.

Among mid-cap IT stocks, Tech Mahindra and Patni are holding on to gains.

Sirpur Paper, Emkay Share, AVT Natural, Cyber Media, Alok Textiles, Surya Pharma, Dredging Corporation, Micro Technologies, Deccan Chronicle and Ajantha Pharma are the other major gainers among mid-caps and small caps.

Polaris has tumbled more than 9 per cent today.

GHCL remains locked in 10 per cent down circuit for the third day.

Remson Industries, Zenith Birla, FCI OEN, Canfin Homes and Kajaria Ceramics are the other major losers among mid-caps and small-caps.

Thomas White Global Research, part of the Thomas White International Group, publishes capital market research for global institutions and investment banks, and is headed by Thomas White, a former managing director of Morgan Stanley Asset Management.

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