The 30-share Sensex continued to trade weak with selling pressure seen across all the sectoral indices. There were no gainers in the sectoral indices. BSE Realty, IT and Oil & Gas and Metal were hammered badly.

Weak industrial production figures also added to the weak outlook on the major bourses, which were already reeling under heavy pressure after a weak start this morning. Negative closing of the US markets and weak Asian markets also weighed sentiments.

Mirroring widespread selling BSE Midcap and Smallcap were also down by 0.66% and 0.38% respectively.

Indian economic growth fell to 5.3% during the third quarter of fiscal 2008-09 as compared to 8.9% in the corresponding period of the last year. Agricultural production was down by 2.2% in the third quarter of 2008-09 as against 6.9% growth during the year-ago period.

At 12:00 p.m., the 30-share index Sensex lost 199.79 points (2.23%) at 8,755.07 after hitting a high of 8,944.11 and a low of 8,735.06.

Meanwhile the broad based Nifty lost 60.85 points (2.18%) at 2,724.80 after touching a high of 2,787.20 and a low of 2,712.50.

The overall breadth of the market was negative. Out of the total 1,994 shares, 732 posted gains, 1,182 went down while 80 remained unchanged.

The top gainers in the 30-share index included Housing Development Finance Corporation, which was up by 2.42%, and Tata Motors, which gained 0.67%.

The major losers in the Sensex were ACC (-5.48%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-4.99%), TCS (-4.61%), Reliance Energy (-4.44%) and Sterlite Industries (India) (-4.23%).

Asian markets were mixed led by gains in technology and commodity shares. The Nikkei gained 1.44%, Hang Seng surged 0.17% and Taiwan Weighted climbed up 0.87%. Straits Times lost 0.23%, Shanghai Composite fell 1.89%.

On Thursday, US stocks fell as an epidemic of unpleasant economic data and fears that President Obama’s budget plan will strangle profits drew investors to sell off stocks across the board.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 88.81 points to 7,182.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 12.07 points to 752.83 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 33.96 points at 1,391.47.