Nifty, Sensex Off Lows As HDFC Bank, Infosys Lead: Midday Market Update

The Indian benchmark indices pared most losses during midday on Monday as Reliance Industries Ltd. recovered from day's low and Infosys Ltd. rose.

As of 12:09 p.m., the NSE Nifty 50 was 2.15 points or 0.09% lower at 24,528.75 and the S&P BSE Sensex was trading 48.50 points or 0.06% lower at 80,556.15.

Intraday, the Nifty declined as much as 0.69% to 24,362.90, while the Sensex declined 0.63% to 80,100.

"The Nifty 50 gained 0.12% over the week but formed a bearish shooting-star-type pattern and closed near the week’s low," Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities, said. "The high of the day (July 19's), 24,854, could now be a strong resistance for the near term, while 24,087–24,344 band could provide support."

"The coming week, that includes the Union Budget, is the eighth in the series of rises and could end in the negative," Jasani said.

HDFC Bank Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., NTPC Ltd. and UltraTech Cement Ltd. led the gains in the Nifty.

Reliance Industries Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Wipro Ltd. and ITC Ltd. weighed on the index.

On NSE, six sectors advanced, five declined, and one remained flat out of 12. The Nifty Pharma was leading among peers, while Realty logged the most losses.

The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices as the BSE MidCap and the BSE SmallCap were trading 1.19% and 0.78% higher respectively.

Sixteen out of the 20 sectors on the BSE advanced, with Utilities rising the most and Realty declining the most.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of the buyers as 2,217 stocks rose, 1,567 declined and 185 remained unchanged on the BSE.