Sensex Struggles; Banking, IT Stocks Lead Decline

Sensex gave up early gains to edge lower in early noon trade on Wednesday, amid strong selling pressure in IT and banking stocks. Mixed Asian markets did not support the sentiment either.

The Sensex fell over 100 points while Nifty edged lower to 7,910 at day's low.

The banking index, Bank Nifty, which had outperformed the markets in the past few sessions fell nearly 1 per cent. SBI, PNB and ICICI Bank were down between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent.

HCL Tech, Infosys and Wipro led the decline in IT stocks, putting further pressure on the markets.

However, gains in select metal, oil & gas, auto and healthcare stocks helped cap the losses. Hindalco, Vedanta and Tata Steel were up nearly 1 per cent after a rally in commodity prices overnight.

K. Subramanyam of Altamount Capital said that metal stocks at current levels offer a good risk-reward potential from a long-term perspective but did not rule out further downside from current levels.

Among the oil & gas pack, RIL and GAIL led the gainers while Dr Reddy's, Cipla and Sun Pharma advanced among pharma stocks.

The broader markets were also under pressure with BSE midcap and smallcap indices down nearly 0.20 per cent.