Weakness in the sharemarket continues as the Sensex is down 73.20 points at 24732.63 and the Nifty is down 11.20 points at 7391.05. About 1664 shares have advanced, 743 shares declined and 100 shares are unchanged.Metal stocks are hogging limelight with Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Steel gaining 2-7 percent each. HUL and Wipro are top gainers in the Sensex. HDFC Bnak, M&M, ICICI Bank, NTPC and Dr Reddy’s Labs are major losers. Gilts trade higher as market sentiment remains positive.

Expectation of strong FII demand supports prices. Rupee is tad higher tracking dollar weakness against major currencies post poor US data. Brent hits three-week lows as tensions in Ukraine cool. Gold close to 4-month low as ECB decision is awaited.

Asian stocks are mostly lower. The Chinese services PMI disappointed coming in at 50.7 versus April’s 51.4 India’s largest private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank lost 1.8 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC and ITC fell close to 1 percent.