February 11: mid-sessions' report

The Indian markets witnessed another round of heavy selling pressure in the early morning trade, as the pressure on banking stocks continued for the second day in trade. Bank Nifty was down more than 1 per cent in trade led by decline in Induslnd, Kotak and ICICI Bank.

Nifty was trading down by more than 84 points at 7132 and the Sensex by 268 points at 23491.47. Both the leading indicators were down 1.16 and 1.13 per cent respectively.

The advance-decline ratio was on the negative side as 2006 scrips were trading in the negative territory, 410 scrips were in the green, however 109 stocks remained unchanged on the NSE.

Top Nifty Gainers: Bank of Baroda is leading the gainers list as it was trading up by close to 2.5 per cent followed by Idea Cellular, SBI, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Tata Motors which were up 1.86, 1.85, 1.54 and 1.25 per cent respectively.

Top Nifty Losers: Vedanta is leading the losers list, and is down by 4.61 per cent, followed by ONGC, M&M, ITC and BHEL.

All the major sectors were trading in red apart from CNX PSU Bank. CNX Metal Index was the top loser down by 1.92 per cent. Followed by CNX Realty and CNX Auto, which were down by 1.96 and 1.17 per cent respectively. Small-Caps witnessed deep cuts as they were down 2.05 per cent. Mid -Caps too were trading in the negative territory by 1.20 per cent.

Chinese markets were closed on account of Lunar Holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down more than 4 per cent in late trade. Korean KOSPI and Singapore’s Straight Times  were also trading in red as they were down 1.06 per cent and 2.93 per cent respectively.

In commodities, crude oil prices slid on Thursday as record U.S. crude inventories were at the cushing delivery point and worries about a global economic slowdown weighed on markets; and Goldman Sachs said prices would remain low and volatile until the second half of the year.

Buzzer: - Induslnd Bank was buzzing in trade as it was trading down 2.02 per cent at Rs 820.95 owing to news regarding a fund transfer made through Nariman branch of IndusInd Bank related to 26/11 Mumbai Attacks.

Major reason for the market sell-off can be attributed to the concerns related to the banking sector, with major blow coming from the commodity meltdown.

Second half will be keenly watched with European markets expected to open in negative territory. Domestically results are expected from major companies like SBI, Tata Motors, Coal India, HeroMoto Corp, ONGC and BHEL. Markets are expected to take cues from the European markets going forward in the day and Q3 results of the bigwigs will also be a key factor in deciding the future course.