Sensex retreats on weak Asian cues; pharma, metals dip

The Sensex retreated on the back of weak Asian cues. Metal, pharma, cement, FMCG and select capital goods stocks were under pressure. At 10 hours IST, the Sensex fell 163 points, to 14,848 and the Nifty lost 45 points, to 4,408. The CNX Midcap was down 0.5%. 

Among the frontliners, Tata Steel, Maruti, SBI, Sterlite, Ranbaxy Labs, Cipla, DLF, Ambuja Cements, Sun Pharma, ITC, Reliance Industries, L&T, HDFC, Wipro, Hindalco and Nalco were down. However, Idea Cellular, SAIL and GAIL were the gainers.

Newly listed, Adani Power was still trading around its issue price of Rs 100 a share.

Midcap space:

Geometric Software, 3i Infotech and Glenmark Pharma were down around 1%. Balrampur Chini lost 2.5%.

However, HOEC and Puravankara Projects shot up 5% each. Uttam Galva was up 1%

Indiabulls Real Estate was up 2.5% as the company received Mumbai Mantralaya redevelopment project, which is valued at Rs 1,376 crore.

Global cues:

Asian markets were trading weak. Nikkei slipped 2.3%. Hang Seng was down 1.4% and Straits Times down 1%. Jakarta and Kospi lost 0.4-0.5%. However, Shanghai was up just 0.7% but slipped from day's high. Taiwan was flat.

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