Sensex, Nifty continue to slide; infra, auto & metal bleed

1:45 pm Divestment: The success of Coal India offer-for-sale (OFS) that helped government garner close to Rs 26,000 crore by divesting 10 percent share is a positive and the government may have another two-three divestments before the end of this fiscal, says C Jayaram, Joint MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank .

 Speaking to from the sidelines of the three-day Kotak Conference, Jayaram says broadly, market sentiment remains positive and a possible victory of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi elections is unlikely to cause much uproar in the market.

1:30 pm Upgrade: Shares of Wockhardt rose 5 percent intraday after Citi upgraded the stock to buy from sell. The brokerage has also revised its target price to Rs 1880 per share following firm December quarter results.

Citi has even increased its FY16-17 core EPS by 2/10 percent based on progress on regulatory front and stated that resolution of 483s at Morton Grove is positive. It also adds that risk-reward looks reasonable for Wockhardt.

Meanwhile, last week Macquarie also had upgraded Wockhardt to outperform from neutral with a revised one-year target of Rs 1700 (from Rs 410) per share.

Don't miss: CLSA says crude risky, remains sell on GAIL; stock falls 6% 

The market is still under pressure dragged mostly by metals, auto and infra stocks. The Sensex is down 287.96 points or 1 percent at 28429.95. The Nifty is down 80.65 points at 8580.40. About 915 shares have advanced, 1664 shares declined, and 208 shares are unchanged. 

ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and Axis Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL, Tata Steel, Cipla, Bharti Airtel and Sesa Sterlite.

Japan's Nikkei share average edged up as the yen weakened against the dollar after strong US jobs data, but gains were limited as weak Chinese trade numbers capped risk appetite.

The Nikkei ended up 0.4 percent at 17,711.93, but off an intraday high of 17,799.49, the highest since Jan. 30.

The broader Topix added 0.6 percent to 1,424.92, and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 gained 0.5 percent to 12,916.95. Analysts said that while some investors took heart from the weakening yen after the US data, others were concerned that liquidity may shrink in the global market if the US Federal Reserve increases rates too soon.