Sensex, Nifty dip in late afternoon trade; Tata Motors falls

The markets fell in late afternoon trade, treading dangerously close to their psychological levels. The 50-share NSE Nifty neared its key level of 6,000 while the 30-share Sensex hovered just above the 19,700 mark.

 

At 3:04 p.m., the NSE benchmark index traded 0.5 per cent lower at Rs 6,004.85, while the BSE index shed 0.53 per cent at 19,789.

 

Auto stocks Bajaj Auto (1.59 per cent) and Maruti Suzuki (1.6 per cent) continued to gain after posting monthly sales data. Ashok Leyland too rose 1 per cent. However shares, in Mahindra and Mahindra lost nearly 1 per cent.

 

Tata Motors, which shed over 7 per cent suddenly in afternoon trade, was one of the key losers on the Sensex. It soon pared loses to trade nearly 2 per cent down. 

 

Bharti Airtel was the other big loser after its profit fell for the 12th consecutive quarter, with higher costs dragging its results well below market expectations.

 

Oil India, whose offer for sale (OFS) for the government's 10 per cent stake is underway, too fell over 2 per cent. The floor price for the Oil India auction has been set at Rs. 510 a share, a 5.6 per cent discount to its Thursday closing price of Rs. 540.

 

Banking stocks ICICI Bank and SBI too shed 1.8 per cent and 0.8 per cent each. 

Shares in government-owned oil companies Indian Oil (3 per cent), Bharat Petroleum (3.1 per cent), and Hindustan Petroleum (2.9 per cent) jumped in afternoon trade after Oil Minister Veerappa Moily said that diesel prices will be hiked by 40-50 paise per litre every month until the losses from selling the nation's most used fuel at subsidized rates have been completely wiped out.