BSE Sensex

BSE Sensex

Indian markets were witnessing a sharp sell-off across the board as the downgrade US credit rating by Standard & Poor spooked sentiments. The carnage was led by fall in stocks from technology and rate sensitive sectors.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs upgraded India to "market weight" from "underweight," given a likely turn in the macro cycle, lower oil prices, lower valuation, and policy reform.

"The latest move by the RBI to raise the repo rate by 50 basis points was a clear sign in our view that the central bank is vigilant in bringing down inflation expectations," Goldman said in a note.

At 12 pm; Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was at 16910.73, down 395.14 points or 2.28 per cent. The 30-share index touched intraday low of 16759.45 and high of 16928.36.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty was at 5099.10, down 112.15 points or 2.15 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 5103.20 and low of 5054.05 in trade so far.

"I would not be in a hurry to buy at this level and even if the Nifty sees some more upside to the tune of 5150 to 5180. I would look at that level as an opportunity to sell or go short. Buying is really out of question because the pattern is clearly bearish. It is a head and shoulder pattern which has been confirmed over the last week and when such a pattern occurs, the fall that happens after is much sharper.

Possibly you have just seen the beginning of the fall and a little bit of an offside to the tune of 100-150 points should not be taken, it should be treated only as a bounce back.

I would not like to go in for buying or cherry picking at this level because I do believe that 4500 is on the cards over the next month or so," said Sandeep Waghle, Founder & MD, APTART Technical Advisory Services, in a chat with ET Now.

BSE Midcap Index was down 2.26 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index fell 3.01 per cent.

Amongst sectoral indices, BSE IT Index plunged 5.01 per cent, BSE Realty Index fell 4.60per cent, BSE Metal Index declined 2.97 per cent and BSE Auto Index slipped 2.41 per cent.

Shares of IT companies, which rely on the US and the Europe for over 60 per cent of their revenue, fell sharply on concerns that US rating downgrade would impact business negatively.

DLF (-7.04%), Tata Motors (-6.13%), Infosys Technologies (-5.26%), TCS (-5.18%) and Tata Steel (-4.42%) were amongst the top Sensex losers.

ONGC (0.51%) and NTPC (0.12%) were the only two gainers.

Market breadth was negative on the BSE with 2258 losers against 340 gainers.