March 11: mid-session report

The Indian markets after opening with gains, succumbed to profit booking from higher levels as it declined in the mid-session of trade. On the previous trading day markets declined after six straight sessions of gains, and we saw benchmark indices gain around 10 per cent. CNX PSU Bank Index was the biggest drag owing to a CRISIL downgrade of major banks.

Nifty is trading down by 3 points at 7485; and Sensex by 21 points at 24619. Both the leading indicators are trading flat with losses of 0.05 and 0.03 per cent respectively.

The advance-decline ratio is showing a similar trend as majority of the counters are trading in red. 1317 scrips are trading in the negative territory; 888 scrips are trading in the positive territory; however 141 stocks remained unchanged on the NSE.

Top Nifty Gainers: Adani Ports & SEZ is leading the gainers list as it was trading up by close to 2 per cent followed by BOSCH, BPCL, TCS and Zee Entertainment which are up 1.38; 1.30; 1.13; and 1.05 per cent respectively.

Top Nifty Losers: Kotak Mahindra Bank is leading the losers list, and is down more than 1.75 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Vedanta and Hindalco Industries which are down anywhere between 1.50 per cent to 1.25 per cent.

All the major sectors are trading in red, except for BSE FMCG and BSE IT Index which are trading up with minor gains. BSE Metals Index and BSE Bankex are the biggest losers in the first half of the session as they are down by 0.85 and 0.50 per cent respectively. BSE Small-Caps index also saw profit booking as it declined by 0.25 per cent. However, BSE Mid -Cap index saw some resistance by trading flat with minor losses of 0.03 per cent.

All the other major Asian markets recovered from there day’s low to close the day in green except for the Chinese markets. Chinese benchmark index CSI ended the day with losses of 0.42 per cent. Japanese Nikkei saw some buying in late trade to close the day with gains of 0.51 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng too closed the day with some smart gains. Korean KOSPI and Taiwan’s FTSE TWSE 50 index closed the day with slight gains.

In commodities, Oil prices jumped on Friday supported by fresh investment and a strong Yuan, which makes fuel cheaper for Chinese importers. U.S. crude futures CLc1 is trading at USD 38.66 a barrel, up 82 cents and over 2 percent from their last close. Brent crude futures LCOC1 is at USD 40.73 a barrel, up 68 cents.

Buzzer: - Sun Pharma was buzzing in trade as it was down close to 1 per cent owing to news regarding recall of osteoporosis drug cartons in the US markets.

In the second half of the day markets would be keep an eye on the European opening as analysts expect it to open in green with gains in excess of 1 per cent attributed to the ECB stimulus push.