Sensex falls over 150 points, Nifty trades below 19,800; MMTC, HUDCO dive up to 9%

Indian equity benchmarks traded lower in Wednesday's early deals amid weak global cues. The domestic indices were dragged by banks and financials. The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 152 points or 0.23 per cent to trade at 66,276, while the NSE Nifty was down 29 points or 0.15 per cent to trade at 19,782. However, broader markets (mid- and small-cap shares) were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 was up 0.15 per cent and small-cap rose 0.55 per cent.

Asian markets edged lower today. Worries about supply disruptions from the Middle East lifted oil prices to nearly $92 per barrel. Wall Street equities were mixed overnight.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Indian shares worth Rs 264 crore on a net basis during the previous session. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 113 crore.

Even while remaining vigilant, market weakness can be used to buy high quality stocks, particularly in sectors like financials, automobiles and capital goods, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Seven out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.20 per cent and 0.44 per cent, respectively. On the flip side, Nifty Metal rose 0.81 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, Bajaj Finance was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 1.33 per cent to trade at Rs 7,985. PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, LTI Mindtree and Apollo Hospitals fell up to 0.92 per cent.

In contrast, Cipla, Hindalco, Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors were among the top gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,808 shares were advancing while 1,158 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, L&T, PowerGrid and Hindustan Unilever were among the top laggards.

Also, MMTC, HUDCO, Syngene, Vakrangee and L&T Tech tanked up to 9.04 per cent. On the other hand, Astra Mircowave Products, Newgen Software Technologies, Orient Cement, Triveni Engineering and Aarti Drugs jumped up to 11.94 per cent.

Nifty outlook

"It was not surprising to see the positive bias fizzling off once inside the 19,800-19,840 region yesterday. The turn lower thereof has not tipped the trend into the weak zone, encouraging us to start the day on a positive note expecting 19,900. But as maintained in the last two days, positivity can evaporate quickly should we get back below 19,650s again, and towards this end, it would be important to hold above 19,820 after upside attempts," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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