Markets remain negative; financials drop

Benchmark indices continue to maintain the subdued trend amid volatility weighed down by financial shares.

Market will remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month November to December and July-September GDP data on Friday.

At 1400 hrs, the Sensex was down 39 at 20,386 and the Nifty slipped by 18 points to trade at 6,041 levels.

According to Somil Mehta, Sr Technical Analyst (Equity), Sharekhan, “Markets to trade with a positive bias and Nifty is expected to retest its previous high of 6350 in the coming trading sessions.”

On the global front, Asian share markets nudged into the red on Wednesday following an uninspiring performance by Wall Street, while a dip in the dollar against the yen prompted profit-taking on Japanese stocks.

Back home, the rupee was trading marginally strong in morning trade due to dollar sale by banks. At 14:00 PM, the rupee was trading at Rs 62.28 compared with previous close of Rs 62.50 per dollar.

On the sectoral front, BSE Realty, Healthcare, Power, TECk and Bankex indices have dropped between 0.5-1.2%. BSE Consumer Durables and Auto indices have gained by 1% each.

The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include Sesa Sterlite, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, GAIL, Sun Pharma, NTPC, HDFC and Wipro, all declining between 1-2%.

On the gaining side, ONGC, ITC, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Coal India have gained between 1-2%.

Among other shares, Page Industries is trading higher by 4% at Rs 5,187 on the bourses in otherwise weak market. The stock opened at Rs 5,000 and touched a high of Rs 5,307, also its record high on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Shares of Edelweiss Financial Services surged 5.7% to Rs 26.70 after the company announced hiking the FII holding limit to 28% from 24%.

The market breadth in BSE remains weak with 1,329 shares declining and 942 shares advancing.