Nifty Hovers Around 8,850; Banking Stocks Fall

The Sensex and Nifty continued to trade lower in the noon trades snapping six-day winning streak as the traders and investors resorted to profit-booking.

 

However, the benchmark indices showcased some recovery owing to buying in heavyweights like Infosys, HDFC and Larsen & Toubro.

 

Banking, FMCG, power and oil & gas stocks which led the market rally saw heavy selling. The Bank Nifty was among the top sectoral loser. The index fell  down 1.2 per cent or 239 points.

 

FMCG, auto, oil & gas, power and realty stocks were also facing the heat of selling pressure.

 

From the Nifty basket, Bank of Baroda was the top loser, down 3 per cent at Rs 178. Cairn India, Tata Power, Power Grid, ICICI Bank and Wipro were also amog the laggards.

 

The shares of most of the frontline cement stocks were weak today after Ambuja Cement reported less-than-expected profit in its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2014.

 

Shares of Ambuja Cement were down 1.7 per cent at Rs 265 while ACC fell 1.4 per cent. Grasim Industries and UltraTech Cement also declined. 

 

At 12:45 PM, the Sensex was down 25 points at 29,295 and the Nifty was down 20 points at 8,848.