IT, bank stocks help Sensex recover

Mumbai, Oct 13:  

The Sensex and the Nifty wiped off their losses and were trading marginally in the green on the back of heavy buying in IT, banking, metal and TECK sector stocks amid weak global cues.

At 2.30 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was trading at 26,410.67, up 113.29 points and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was trading at 7,885.05, up 25.1 points.

Among BSE sectoral indices, IT index gained the most by 1.39 per cent, followed by banking 1.14 per cent, metal 1.12 per cent and TECk 1.11 per cent. On the other hand, realty index was down 1.87 per cent, followed by healthcare 0.82 per cent, FMCG 0.53 per cent and capital goods 0.39 per cent.

Among 30-share Sensex constituents, Tata Power, Infosys, Axis Bank, Tata Steel and Coal India were the major gainers, while the major losers were M&M, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, BHEL and NTPC.

Brokers said selling activity gathered momentum on disappointing economic data as the country’s industrial production growth slowed to a five-month low of 0.4 per cent in August.

Besides, a cautious approach by participants ahead of quarterly earnings of blue-chip company RIL, to be announced after market hours today and a weak trend in other Asian markets, influenced the trading sentiment here.

European shares skidded lower on Monday, extending last week's losing streak, as concerns about faltering global economic growth hit equity markets across the world.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had already fallen for the last four sessions, was down by 0.6 per cent at 1,285.31 points by 0705 GMT, with Germany's DAX falling to a new one-year low.

European stock markets have been hit by a raft of weak economic data, and on Friday credit rating agency Standard & Poor's lowered its outlook on France to "negative" from "stable".

"We're still looking quite poorly, on the markets. The nervousness is still there. I don't think anyone will want to come running back into the market early doors," said Terry Torrison, managing director at Monaco-based McLaren Securities.

Asian stocks stumbled to seven-month lows on Monday, while crude oil prices were pinned near a four-year trough as promising trade numbers out of China failed to cheer a market still worried about faltering global growth.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.8 per cent, extending last week's 1.1 per cent drop.

Mainland Chinese stocks skidded 1.1 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.7 per cent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index and South Korea’s Kospi both slipped 0.6 per cent.

(This article was published on October 13, 2014)