Noon: Sensex falls 0.4% in seesaw trade
Noon: Sensex falls 0.4% in seesaw trade
Mumbai: Indian shares were trading down 0.4% on Wednesday as banks took another beating on weak global sentiment towards the sector, while energy group Reliance Industries rebounded after falling for two days.
By 12:23pm, the main BSE stock index was down 0.4% at 8,998.54 points, with 14 of its components declining.
It opened more than 1% lower but quickly reversed direction and rose as much as 0.7%, but falling Asian markets and worsening world economic gloom kept investors under pressure.
Traders said there was support for some stocks after the market had fallen more than 6 percent in the previous two days. “I don’t see too much of bears left in a market that has already fallen so much," said Neeraj Dewan, director of Quantum Securities.
The BSE index is down 6.7% so far this year, after slumping more than half in 2008. The 50-share NSE Nifty index was up 0.39% at 2,781.20 points.
Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight in the main index, rose 1.8% to Rs1,290, after falling 8.9% in the last two sessions. Top mobile operator Bharti Airtel rose 1.5% to Rs642 after the company said it can continue to grow revenue and is not worried by new entrants.
Bank stocks, which had been falling this week on concerns about profit margins and a rise in bond yields that could lower the value of their treasury portfolio, dropped further on renewed fears about the health of the global finance sector.
State Bank of India, the country’s biggest lender, fell 2% to Rs1,078.10 while rival ICICI Bank dropped 4.1% to Rs369.95 rupees.
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