Stocks once again extended fall in mid-morning trade after latest data showed that manufacturing activity slowed in December. At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 82.29 points or 0.23% at 36,172.28. The Nifty 50 index was down 33.30 points or 0.31% at 10,876.80

Trading for the day began on a subdued note as the key benchmark indices drifted lower in early trade on negative Asian stocks. Key indices cut losses in morning trade.

On the macro front, the health of India's manufacturing economy improved further at the end of the year, as companies continued to scale up production and employment in response to strong inflows of new business, data released today showed. Posting 53.2 in December, from 54 in November, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was consistent with a further improvement in operating conditions across the sector.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was off 0.23%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.07%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1036 shares rose and 1020 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

M&M (down 3.63%), Vedanta (down 3.24%), Tata Steel (down 2.29%), Hero MotoCorp (down 2.13%) and Power Grid Corporation of India (down 1.55%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Tata Motors lost 1.67%. The trend of muted consumer sentiments continued in December 2018, impacting the sales performance of Tata Motors commercial and passenger vehicles business in the domestic market, which dropped by 8% at 50,440 units as against 54,627. In December 2018, liquidity crisis in the industry, higher interest rates and rising fuel costs continued to impact the commercial vehicle sales, with M&HCV (medium and heavy commercial vehicle) and I&LCV (intermediate and light commercial vehicles) segment witnessing a decline while the passenger vehicle business bounced back.

Tata Motors' sales from exports (from CV and PV) in December 2018 was at 3,999 units as against 6,293 units in December 2017, lower by 36%, due to sharp TIV (total industry volume) contraction in Bangladesh due to elections and political uncertainty in Sri Lanka.

Airline stocks saw mixed trend. SpiceJet fell 1%. InterGlobe Aviation rose 0.31%.

Jet Airways (India) fell 2.13%. Jet Airways (India) announced that the payment of interest and principal installment due to the consortium of Indian banks (led by State Bank of India) on 31 December 2018 has been delayed due to temporary cash flow mismatch. The company has engaged with them in relation to the same. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 January 2019.

Ashok Leyland fell 1.51% after total sales fell 20% to 15,493 units in December 2018 over December 2017. Ashok Leyland's sales of light commercial vehicles (LCV) rose 27% to 4,198 units, while sales of medium & heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) fell 29% to 11,295 units in December 2018 over December 2017. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 2 January 2019.

Overseas, Asian stocks kicked off 2019 on a muted note, with a holiday in Japan dampening volumes, as evidence of slowing Chinese growth weighed on investors.