March 15: mid-session report

The Indian markets extended their sell off in the early morning trade due to profit booking from higher levels and also owing to the fact that  Bank of Japan is holding policy rates steady as expected, however it offered a depressing view of the country’s economy going forward. Other major Asian markets too saw a flat to negative close.

Nifty is trading down by 54 points at 7485; and Sensex by 185 points at 24620. Both the leading indicators are trading with losses of 0.71 and 0.73 per cent respectively.

The advance-decline ratio showed a similar trend as majority of the counters traded in red. 1444 scrips were trading in the negative zone; 892 scrips were trading in the positive territory; however 143 stocks remained unchanged on the NSE.

Top Nifty Gainers: PNB is leading the gainers list as it is trading up by close to 2 per cent followed by SBI, Yes Bank, BPCL and Axis Bank which were up 1.84; 1.48; 1.46; and 1.10 per cent respectively.

Top Nifty Losers: Lupin is leading the losers list down by close to 6.5 per cent, followed by HDFC, Zee Entertainment, ITC and Wipro which are down anywhere between 3.40 per cent to 1.91 per cent.

All the major sectoral indices showed a mixed trend as few were in the green while the rest in red.  BSE Bankex and BSE Metals index was the biggest gainer in the first half of the session as it was up by 0.54 and 0.43 per cent respectively. Whereas, BSE Healthcare index was a laggard in the trading as it is trading down by 1.42 per cent. BSE Small-Caps index also saw profit booking as it decreased by 0.47 per cent. BSE Mid -Cap Index also declined by 0.64 per cent.

All the other major Asian markets traded flat. Chinese benchmark index CSI ended the day with gains of 0.30 per cent. Whereas, other major indices like Japanese Nikkei, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed the day with losses of 0.68 and 0.79 per cent respectively.

In commodities, oil prices fell in Asian trade on Tuesday, extending losses from the session before, as concerns start to take hold that a six-week recovery will peter out as markets remain oversupplied. U.S. crude futures CLc1 were 14 cents lower at USD 37.04 a barrel.

Buzzer: - Lupin was buzzing in trade as it is down close to 7 per cent in trade attributed to USFDA observations on Goa facility.

In the second half of the day markets are likely to take cues from the European bourses as they are expected to open flat with negative bias on account of strong rally witnessed in the previous trading session.