The frontline Indian equity indices remain under pressure in the afternoon trade, with the NSE Nifty staying below the 5,300 mark and the BSE Sensex hovering around 17,400. The broader indices are trading with a negative bias for the second straight session, dragging the overall market breath in to the negative territory. Barring IT, most other sectoral indices are in the red on BSE, led by Metals, Power and Realty indices. The advance-decline ratio on the Sensex and Nifty is also skewed towards the bears so far today. The INDIA VIX too is up ~3.5%.

At 2:57 pm (IST), the Sensex was at 17,395, down 126 points or 0.7% over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day’s low of 17,343 and a day’s high of 17,485. It opened at 17,449.

The Nifty was quoting at 5,275, down 0.8% over the previous close. It earlier touched a day's low of 5,257 and a day's low of 5,300. It opened at 5,283.

The BSE Small-Cap index and BSE Mid-Cap index were trading down by ~1% each.

TCS and DLF are the only notable winners in the two main indices.

Reliance Infra, JP Associates, Tata Power, Ranbaxy, Ambuja Cements, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, ACC, Hero MotoCorp., Maruti, Grasim, Cairn India, Wipro, HDFC, SAIL, IDFC, Sterlite Industries and HDFC Bank are among the main losers in Sensex and Nifty.

Asian stock indices closed mostly lower, as a weaker-than-anticipated jobs data out of the US fueled worries about the state of the world's largest economy.

Stocks in the region also came under pressure after Japanese machinery orders sank the most in more than five years and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that the nation’s economy faces relatively large downward pressure.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.5% at 7:17 a.m. in London. About three stocks fell for each one that rose in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.

China's Shanghai Composite index was down ~2.4% while Japan's Nikkei Average ended down 1.4% at 8,896.88. Australia's S&P/ASX200 closed down 1% at 4,118.30.
 
China’s inflation eased sharply in June as food costs and industrial demand softened, raising hopes of further policy action from the policymakers. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said that the Chinese economy is running at a generally stable pace, but still faces huge pressure to go downward.
 
Japan's machinery orders fell more than expected while its current-account balance narrowed.
 
US stock indices slid on Friday, with the Dow industrials and S&P 500 suffering losses for the week.

All the three major US stock indexes lost more than 1% on Friday.

The Dow ended the holiday-shortened week down 0.8%, while the S&P lost 0.5%. The Nasdaq finished flat.

US government data showed on Friday that non-farm payrolls increased 80,000 last month, less than a 100,000 gain forecast by economists. Hiring slowed sharply in the second quarter, with job growth averaging 75,000 a month versus 226,000 in the first quarter.

The jobs report capped a week of lackluster data pointing to a slowing US economic recovery.

European stock markets opened steady but could not hold onto early gains and turned lower ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.

The yield on Spain's 10-year government bond hovered around the psychologically important 7% level.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was down ~0.5%.

The DAX in Germany, the CAC in France and the FTSE in the UK were trading marginally lower (down 0.3% to 0.7%). The IBEX 35 index in Madrid was down 1.5%.

The euro steadied after dropping to a two-year low against the dollar early on Monday, with little expected to emerge from a meeting of eurozone financial leaders later in the session.

The euro slid to $1.2251, the weakest since July 2010, before trading at $1.2288 at 7:11 a.m. in London, little changed from the close on July 6.

European finance ministers gather today to discuss crisis-fighting measures adopted by heads of government at a summit last month.

The 17-nation currency remained lower after three days of declines before European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi addresses the European parliament today.

The rupee dropped to the lowest level in a week after disappointing US jobs data reinforced growing concerns about slowing global economy, damping demand for riskier assets. The rupee was dragged down by weakness in the euro, which touched a two-year low versus the greenback.

At 12:29 p.m., the rupee was at 56.04 after touching a day's low of 56.05 and a day's high of 55.81. It had opened at 55.90 as against the previous close of 55.45.

The Dollar Index was little changed at 83.275 after rising 2.1% in the five days ended July 6. It is up 1.7% in the past seven days.
 
Markets around the world are unlikely to find any respite from selling pressure in the near term amid mounting worries over slowing growth. While the Indian market has held up quite well lately, the resilience will be tested in the coming days as companies start reporting Q1 FY13 results.
 
A fall was a given at start owing to depressed global cues. US stocks tumbled on Friday following a disappointing monthly jobs report. High unemployment is one of the major headwinds confronting the developed world. It is likely to stay elevated as growth continues to be anemic. European markets too slumped on Friday with Spanish bond yields back near 7%. Asian markets are mostly in the red this morning.
 
Back home, investors will keenly track data on industrial production and inflation in the run up to the month-end RBI policy review. Thursday will be a big day for the Indian markets. Apart from the latest IIP data, investors will react to earnings from IT titans Infosys and TCS.
 
HDFC siblings are also due to announce their results this week along with few other companies. The results season will see a pick up from next week. The trading range on the Nifty has moved higher to 5280-5400. A star like pattern after a sharp rally means some loss of momentum. Further consolidation is not ruled out in the coming days.
 
Trend in FII flows: The FIIs were net buyers of Rs. 5.71bn in the cash segment on Friday while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of Rs. 3.23bn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE.
 
The FIIs were net buyers of Rs. 5.71bn in the F&O segment on Friday, according to the provisional NSE data.
 
The foreign funds were net buyers of Rs. 4.56bn in the cash segment on Thursday while the Mutual Funds were net sellers at Rs. 620mn, according to the SEBI figures.