March 23: mid-session report

After witnessing a sharp rally in the last hour of trade, the benchmark indices took a break as investors took a breather today in the aftermath of Brussels bombing which shook the entire world leading to socio-economic tension and having potential to disrupt economic stability of the Eurozone and world at large. The trend was visible throughout the Asian markets.

Nifty was trading down by 25 points at 7689; and Sensex by 106 points at 25224. Both the leading indicators were trading with losses of 0.34 and 0.43 per cent respectively.

The advance-decline ratio showed a similar trend as majority of the counters traded in red. As many as 1152 scrips were trading in the negative zone; 1054 scrips were trading in the positive territory; however, 151 stocks remained unchanged on the NSE.

Top Nifty Gainers: Hindalco is leading the gainers' list as it was trading up by close to 4 per cent followed by Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel, Tata Power and Yes Bank which were up 2.60; 2.55; 1.70; and 1.59 per cent respectively.

Top Nifty Losers: ONGC is leading the losers' list down by close to 2 per cent, followed by Bank of Baroda, HDFC, Cairn India and Reliance Industries which are down anywhere between 1.77 per cent to 1.50 per cent.

All the major sectoral indices showed a mixed trend. BSE Oil & Gas and BSE Consumer Goods Index was the biggest loser in trade as it was down by 1.21 per cent and 0.80 per cent respectively. BSE Auto Index and BSE Capital Goods Index was the biggest gainer in today’s trading session. However, BSE Small-Caps index rose by close to 0.16 per cent. BSE Mid -Cap Index was trading flat with negative bias.

All the other major Asian markets slipped in trade in the consequences of Brussels Bombing. All the major indices traded in red. Chinese CSI300 closed the day down by 0.14 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei too closed the day with losses of 0.28 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed the day by declining 0.58 per cent, whereas Korean KOSPI and Singapore Straight Times Index closed the day flat.

In commodities, oil prices fell in early Asian trading on Wednesday after figures from an industry group showed U.S. crude stockpiles rose last week more than expected, reinforcing concerns that supply continues to exceed demand.

Buzzer: - United Breweries was buzzing in trade as it was down by close to 2 per cent in trade on the back of Heineken buying additional 21 lakh shares in United Breweries.

In the second half of the day, market is likely to follow the global markets and witness a lower to flat range-bound movement.