Domestic bourses were trading lower during the noon trading session as Reliance slipped 5 per cent after the government raised export duty on diesel and petrol by Rs 13 a litre, and Rs 6 a litre, respectively.
The govt also imposed a Rs 23,230 per tonne additional tax on domestically produced crude oil to take away windfall gains accruing to producers from high international oil prices.
This pulled down oil producers and refiners including ONGC, Oil India, MRPL and Chennai Petro, which plunged 6-11 per cent.
At 12:45 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 52567.84 down by -451.1 points or by -0.85 % and then NSE Nifty was at 15655.35 down by -124.9 points or by -0.79 %.
Sensex touched intraday high of 52863.34 and intraday low of 52094.25 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 15719.95 and intraday low of 15511.05
The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Bajaj Finserv Ltd. (Rs. 11259.85,+3.02%), Asian Paints Ltd. (Rs. 2763.75,+2.46%), Bajaj Finance Ltd. (Rs. 5521.90,+2.25%), ITC Ltd. (Rs. 279.55,+2.23%), IndusInd Bank Ltd. (Rs. 804.50,+1.25%), among others.
The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 2439.30,-5.97%), Titan Company Ltd. (Rs. 1902.50,-2.06%), NTPC Ltd. (Rs. 140.50,-1.85%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 207.95,-1.84%), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (Rs. 8334.00,-1.61%), among others.
FMCG index was at 13932.32 up by 166.22 points or by 1.21%. DFM Foods Ltd. (Rs. 227.80,+9.97%), Tasty Bite Eatables Ltd. (Rs. 9845.45,+4.84%), Tilaknagar Industries Ltd. (Rs. 72.35,+4.63%), Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities Ltd. (Rs. 277.35,+2.48%), ITC Ltd. (Rs. 279.55,+2.23%),.
The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 3419 , shares advanced were 1428 while 1805 shares declined and 186 were unchanged.