After trimming some of its losses, the 30-share index Sensex continued to trade in the negative zone.

The scrips from metal, automobile and banking stocks remained weak.

At 11.54 a. m., the Sensex lost 161.09 points (0.81%) at 19,773.55, while the broad-based Nifty shed 47.50 points (0.79%) to trade at 5,929.05.

Today, the 30-share index, BSE Sensex belled the day at 19,874.30 and the Nifty began after sliding 22.15 points.

The top gainers in the Sensex pack comprised ONGC, DLF, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever and I C I C I Bank.

On the other hand, the major losres' list consisted of HDFC Bank, HDFC, Tata Motors, Sterlite Ind, Tata Steel and Bajaj Auto.

The BSE Midcap remained 51.06 points down at 7720.26.

The BSE Smallcap index slipped 1.04% to trade at 9504.98.

Among sectoral indices, the Metal index slipped 254.3 points; the Auto index fell 123.34 points; and the Bankex index declined 135.54 points.

In contrast, the Oil & Gas index gained 7.64 points to trade at 10,513.61.