The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes recovered most of their intraday losses but continue trade lower in noon deals on the back of buying in information technology heavyweights like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services. The benchmarks staged a gap down opening wherein the Sensex dropped as much as 905 points and Nifty 50 index briefly fell below 15,000-mark. Meanwhile, mid- and small-cap shares were outperforming their larger peers.
As of 12:01 pm, the Sensex was down 393 points or 0.76 per cent at 51,052 and Nifty 50 index fell 97 points to 15,149.
Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Media index’s nearly 3 per cent gain. IT, Pharma, PSU Bank and FMCG indexes were also trading on a positive note.
On the other hand, Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Metal and Private Bank indexes were trading with cuts of over 1 per cent.
Broader markets were outperforming their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.9 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed 1.3 per cent.
MTAR Technologies shares were in huge demand in the ongoing initial public offering as the issue was subscribed nearly six times on the second day of the issue.
HDFC was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.6 per cent to Rs 2,586. JSW Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Coal India, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank were also among the losers.
On the flipside, Adani Ports rose 5 per cent to Rs 764 after it said on Wednesday that it is acquiring the 31.5 per cent stake of Windy Lakeside Investment in the Gangavaram Port (GPL) for Rs 1,954 crore. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals, Adani Ports said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges.
SBI Life, UPL, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Wipro, Power Grid, Sun Pharma and Britannia Industries also advanced 0.7-1.5 per cent.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,563 shares were advancing while 1,200 were declining on the BSE.
