By IANS
Mumbai : The Indian equity market Friday extended losses in early afternoon trade, hit by the latest data which showed a further rise in inflation.
Banking stocks fell after concerns of possible Reserve Bank of India intervention to rein in inflation. IT, capital goods and auto stocks declined. The market breadth turned weak.
At 1:20 p.m., the Sensex, the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), was down 442.03 points or 2.79 percent at 15,390.52. The day’s low so far was 15,369.46.
The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 128.50 points or 2.48 percent at 4,653.10.
India’s wholesale price index (WPI) rose seven percent in the 12 months to March 22, accelerating from the previous week’s rise of 6.68 percent. The rate is the highest since Dec 4, 2004.
On BSE, 812 shares advanced as compared to 1,561 that declined; 56 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.31 percent to 6,303.34 and the BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.98 percent to 7,763.30.
Banking stocks were the worst suffers after release of the inflation data. HDFC Bank was down 2.22 percent to Rs.1,297.05, ICICI Bank slid by 2.14 percent to Rs.770.50 and State Bank of India went down by 2.02 percent to Rs.1,603.20.