Tracking weak cues from Asian peers, the domestic bourses continued to trade lower with negative bias. In absence of any development on the domestic front, the sentiment in the D-street remained gloomy. Investors were participating in selective trading ahead of Federal Reserve’s policy meet that will begin today for two days and German’s constitutional court ruling that could determine the fate of ESM. However, news that cabinet will meet today for fuel price hike, kept oil&gas stock in upbeat mood.

At 10:24 hours, the 30-share barometer index of Bombay Stock Exchange, Sensex witnessed selling across Sesa Goa, Sterlite Industries, Maruti Suzuki and Larsen & Toubro. , was trading 44.06 points or by 0.25 per cent higher at 17,722.72.

In a similar fashion, NSE Nifty was trading at 5344.7 down by 18.75 points or by 0.35 per cent. However, midcap and smallcap indices continued to hold its ground. The BSE MIDCAP was at 6172.27 up by 12.51 points or by 0.2 per cent, while the BSE SMLCAP was at 6559.06 up by 17.41 points or by 0.27 per cent.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2014, shares advanced were 1045 while 862 shares declined and 107 were unchanged.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. (Rs. 94.10, 4.27%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 1782.00, 2.12%), Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (Rs. 337.50, 2.06%), Tata Steel Ltd. (Rs. 374.75, 1.36%), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 257.50, 1.13%), among others.

Among the thirteen sectoral indices in BSE, metal index was at 9732.48 down by 174.39 points or by 1.76%. Sesa Goa Ltd. (Rs. 160.80, 5.22%), Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. (Rs. 94.10, 4.27%), Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (Rs. 337.50, 2.06%), NMDC Ltd. (Rs. 188.30, 1.75%), JSW Steel Ltd. (Rs. 678.95, 1.52%).

Following the metal index, Auto index was at 9533.21 down by 53.12 points or by 0.55 per cent. Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 1782.00, 2.12%), Ashok Leyland Ltd. (Rs. 20.75, 1.66%), Exide Industries Ltd. (Rs. 141.95, 0.77%), Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 247.25, 0.64%), Cummins India Ltd. (Rs. 456.80, 0.62%).

Meanwhile, most of the Asian stock markets were trading in red as investors repositioned before a German Constitutional Court ruling on the euro zone’s bailout funds which could remove one risk for Europe, and a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that may yield widely expected stimulus measures. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.80 per cent, while the Hang Seng dipped as much as 0.72 per cent. Besides, the China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.91 per cent, while Taiwan Weighted was trading 0.02 per cent below the baseline.