Markets come off day's low; Nifty reclaims 7,200

The Sensex was down 193 points at 23,828 and Nifty was down 62 points at 7,236

Markets have recovered from their day's lows, amid firm European cues, even as bank shares continue to lead the decline after a host of state owned banks reported huge losses because of higher provisioning on account of rising non-performing assets.

At 2:30pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 193 points at 23,828 and the Nifty50 was down 62 points at 7,236 after hitting an intra-day low of 7,177.75.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 0.8%-1.5% each. Market breadth remained weak with 2031 losers and 494 gainers on the BSE

The rupee was trading flat at 67.91 against the US dollar compared to its previous close of 67.90.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks fell sharply on Wednesday amid concerns over the banking sector in the euro zone region. Japanese shares extended losses to hit 16-month low on the back of an appreciating yen. The benchmark Nikkei ended down 2.4% to end below 16,000 at 15,713.39 while Singapore's Straits Times was down 1.9%.

However, European shares rebounded on Wednesday after encouraging earnigns from select corporates while M&A activity also boosted sentiment. The CAC and DAX were up over 1% each while FTSE was up 0.4%.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Bankex was down 1.7% while on the NSE the Bank Nifty eased 1.7% and PSU Bank Nifty slumped 4%.

As many as 147 stocks from the S&P BSE500 index are currently trading below their May 15, 2014 level. Most of the public sector banks (PSBs), metals, infrastructure, realty and oil & gas stocks are currently quoting below their May 2014 level.

In the banking pack, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of India, UCO Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Dena Bank, Allahabad Bank, Syndicate Bank and Punjab National Bank from the PSBs are currently available at more than 50% below their May 2014 price.

Indian drug major Dr Reddy's Laboratories has reported a marginal 1% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 579.2 crore for the quarter ended December, 2014 on the back of lower growth in revenues. Shares of Dr Reddy’s Labs has slumped over 3%.

Among other shares, InterGlobe Aviation, which operates IndiGo airline, has dipped nearly 5% to Rs 752 falling below its issue price of Rs 765 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The company raised Rs 3,009 crore through initial public offer (IPO) in October last year.