The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes erased gains in noon deals owing to weakness in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, ITC and NTPC. The Sensex fell as much as 302 points from day’s highest level and Nifty slipped below its important psychological level of 11,300. Earlier in the day, benchmarks rose on the back of gains in metal stocks amid upbeat global mood.
As of 12:35 pm, the Sensex was down 69 points at 38,301 and Nifty fell 10 points to 11,295.
Six of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank index’s 1 per cent decline. Pharma, banking, and financial services shares were also witnessing a mild selling pressure.
On the other hand, auto, metal and media shares were witnessing buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares were outperforming their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.7 per cent.
Sun Pharma was top Nifty loser, the stock declined 1.6 per cent to Rs 524. Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors, Tata Steel, ITC, HDFC Life, Axis Bank, HDFC, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra and BPCL were also among the losers.
On the flipside, Hindalco was top Nifty loser, the stock rose 4 per cent to Rs 182. Titan, Tata Motors, Bharti Infratel, Adani Ports, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement and ONGC were also among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,043 shares were advancing while 724 were declining on the BSE.
