Mkts nosedive; RIL, ICICI Bank, Bharti, Infy, L&T drag

The market is trading sharply lower, despite showing some recovery from its intra-day lows. Failing investor sentiment in the US and weak Asian markets are reasons for the market fall. Selling continues in metal, telecom, realty, technology, oil, and banking stocks. Midcap and smallcap stocks are also under pressure.

Few long-only funds are selling in large cap stocks at the FII desk. Weakness in the Asian markets further dampened the sentiment. Real estate and IT stocks gave up yesterday's gains.

Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Reliance Industries, NTPC, Reliance Communication, SBI, Infosys, ICICI Bank, TCS, SAIL, Tata Steel and L&T are main contributors to this fall.

The BSE Sensex tumbled 324 points to 10,359 and the Nifty lost 115 points to 3,119, at 1:40 pm. BSE Midcap and Small Cap indices fell 1.3-1.7%.

BSE Metal and TECK fell 4.5-5%. Realty, IT, Oil & Gas, Auto, Capital Goods, Healthcare and Bankex lost 2-4%.

Breadth continues to weak; about 1072 shares have advanced while 1885 shares have declined. Nearly 233 shares are unchanged.

However, gainers are ITC, BHEL, HUL and HDFC Bank.