The key benchmark indices were trading lower on heavy selling by funds following a weak global trend.

Selling pressure has emerged across most sectors and power, capital goods and pharma lead the decline.

At 11:38 a.m., the Sensex was down 45.10 points at 9,191.18 levels and the Nifty has slumped 13.45 points to 2,810.50 levels.

Mr. Shrikant Chouhan, technical analyst, Kotak Securities, said, “The overall breadth of the market remains weak but if the Nifty is able to sustain above 2,790 then it may reach 2,925 levels also.”

The FMCG, oil and select auto and IT stocks on the BSE have posted gains, while power, capital goods and pharmaceutical stocks continued their weak run.

Bank and metal stocks also remain subdued. Some stocks from the realty segment have recovered losses on strong buying support.

Besides, a host of midcap and smallcap stocks also recorded impressive gains.

Reports that unemployment claims in the United States touched a record high and that new home sales hit a record low broke investor reactions, and the Dow Jones industrial average dipped 226 points, whereas other indicators tumbled over 3%.

ONGC ruled the charts with a sharp gain of 2.2%. Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 1.85%), Grasim Industries (1.6%), ITC (1.5%), HUL (1.25%), Maruti Suzuki (0.7%), SBI were the other gainers in the list.

Spice Telecom continued its positive run and gained 45.5% at Rs 38.35.

Jindal Steel, Rolta India, United Spirits, Godrej Industries, Jai Corp, India Bulls Financial Services, Triveni Engineering, Dabur India, Shriram Transport, United Breweries, Suzlon Energy, India Infoline, India Bulls Securities, Shipping Corporation of India, Reliance Petroleum, HCL Technologies, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Neyveli Lignite Corporation and CESC have also posted sharp gains.

Sun Pharmaceuticals lost 8.5% to Rs 1046. BHEL declined around 4%.

The stocks, which lost between 1-2.5% included ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, NTPC, Tata Motors, Sterlite Industries, TCS, Reliance Infrastructure, HDFC and Tata Power.

Akruti City lost 10% to Rs 788 on weak quarterly results.

Other stocks that also declined sharply were Edelweiss Capital, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Crompton Greaves, Welspun Gujarat, LIC Housing Finance, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Power Grid Corporation, Bajaj Financial Services, Axis Bank, Pantaloon Retail, Titan Industries, Financial Technologies, Educomp Solutions and Bhushan Steel have also declined sharply.