Local bourses have puffed up their losses as renewed qualms over recession in the United States amidst sustained worries about Europe's sovereign-debt crisis have prompted investors to take a flight of safety. U.S. jobs market which stalled for the month August fuelled concerns about the health of the world's top economy and its fallout on ongoing global recovery. Lack of any positive trigger both on positive as well as global front contributed to the slouch at Dalal Street. On the global front, Stocks on Wall Street closed down more than 2 per cent on Friday after the US Labor Department said employers added no net new jobs last month and July's total was revised lower. Meanwhile the Asian indices too trading shaky in the early deals were pointing at daunting global set up. The US future indices depicting no different trend were showing a downtick in the screen trade. Back home, the only soothing factor were the dwindling prices of crude which declined after a U.S. jobs report raised recession worries, thereby outweighing supply concerns over a major shutdown of offshore oil production as Tropical Storm Lee reached the coast of Louisiana on Sunday. The droopiness of the barometer gauges could also be blamed to the plunge of the Index heavyweights such as that of Reliance Industries, ITC and Infosys. However, from the BSE sectoral front, stocks from Information Technology, Oil & Gas and TECk acted as falling knife for the markets, while stocks from Consumer Durable and Realty bucking the trend provided a ceiling to the losses of the markets. The 30 scrip sensitive index -Sensex- after edging lower over 150 points  was trading lower from its 16700 mark, while the 50 share index surrending over 50 points was off its 5000 level. The broader indices too participating in the global carnage were ruling down over 0.25% each. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which piped advances in the ratio of 1233:976, while 76 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,632.77 down by 188.69 points or 1.12%. The index has touched a high and low of 16,700.64 and 16,593.06 respectively. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.
The broader indices too were trading in the red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices declined by 0.13% and 0.46% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.38%, Realty up by 0.42%. While, IT down by 2.07%, Oil and Gas down by 1.68%, TECk down by 1.57%, Power down by 0.96% and PSU down by 0.74% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero Motocorp up by 2.34%, Tata Steel up by 1.05%, Jindal Steel up by 0.86%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.51% and Cipla up by 0.11%
On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.65%, Reliance Industries down by 2.49%, HDFC down by 2.35%, BHEL down by 2.13% and Hindalco Industries was down by 2.08%  were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, expressing concern over the elevated food inflation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, monetary policy the Reserve Bank has adopted will have impact but will take some time to have full impact on the demand management and in the short and medium term we are trying to improve the supply so that the moderating influence of inflation is felt in the coming week. For the week ended August 20, India's food inflation measured by Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 10.05%, this surge in food inflation was due to the increase in prices of vegetables and protein-based items.
This surge in prices of food product is because of supply side management, and on this issue finance minister said, 'The government is trying to improve supply of some critical farm products which will help moderate the double-digit food inflation in coming weeks.' By adding further he said, 'food inflation has reached double digit which is a matter of concern. Definitely there is a seasonal factor, but apart from that seasonal factor, there are supply constraints in some critical agricultural products which we shall have to remove.'
The weekly food inflation entered into two digit mark after a gap of five months, and on the other hand monthly headline inflation for month of July stood at 9.22% from 9.44% in June. This elevated level of inflation has increased anxiety of another hike in policy rates by RBI in mid quarter monetary policy review scheduled on September 16.   The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,985.35, lower by 54.65 points or 1.08%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,999.80 and 4,972.85 respectively. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hero Motorcorp up by 2.28%, Reliance Capital up by 2.01%, SAIL up by 1.73%, RCom up by 1.71% and Reliance Infra up by 1.41%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.86%, Cairn India down by 2.79%, Reliance Industries down by 2.57%, HDFC down by 2.32% and Sterlite Industries down by 2.27%, were the major losers on the index.
All the Asian equity indices barring Jakarta Composite were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite down by 1.63%, Hang Seng was down by 2.17%, KLSE Composite was down by 0.22%, Nikkei 225 was down by 2.02%, Straits Times down by 2.80%, Seoul Composite down by3.77% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 2.63%.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite up by 1.62% was the lone gainer among the Asian pack.