Sensex declines 100 pts; Rel Infra, JP Asso, Ambuja down 3%

Indian equity benchmarks remained under selling pressure since early trade due to weak global cues. Metals, capital goods, power, telecom, banks and HDFC group stocks weighed down the market.

The BSE benchmark went down 114 points to 17,406.98 and the NSE benchmark slipped 39 points to 5,277.95. European markets extended the fall after initial flat trade; France's CAC and Britain's FTSE fell 0.5% each while Germany's DAX declined 0.9% on growth concerns.

Eurozone Finance Ministers' will be meeting in Brussels today to work on details of Summit arrangements, but investors are not hopeful of progress on the euro zone debt crisis.

Back home, the Indian rupee depreciated by 1.05% or 58 paise to 55.98 against the US dollar.

Among frontliners, Reliance Infrastructure, Jaiprakash Associates and Ambuja Cements topped the selling list, falling 3%. Ranbaxy Labs, Jindal Steel, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power and Maruti Suzuki were down 2-2.5%.

HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro went up 1-1.5%. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India declined 0.4% each.

However, shares of DLF and TCS outperformed, rising 1.5% and 1%, respectively. Hindalco and Dr Reddys Labs moved up 0.5%.

In the second line shares, TVS Motor, Manappuram Finance, Fresenius Kabi, Wockhardt and Zydus Wellness shot up 4-8.5% whereas Dewan Housing, Chambal Fertiliser, India Cements, GSFC and Voltas were down 4-13%.

In the smallcap space, Globus Spirits, SKS Microfinance, Walchandnagar, Numeric Power and SPML Infra surged 10-20%. However, Orient Refractories, IVRCL Assets, JK Cement, Inventure Growth and Warren Tea slipped 6-10%.