Market off day's low

Markets are trading on a flat note with a negative bias in the noon deals and have come off the day's low levels on the back of buying visible in the IT, oil & gas and healthcare stocks. The Sensex is down 15 points at 18,413 and the Nifty is down 7 points at 5,600 levels.

Earlier in the day, the Sensex touched the low of 18,339.

According to Shshank Mehta, Derivatives Strategist, Shah Investor's Home, "We believe NIfty will take support at the psychological level of 5600. However, a support pocket is seen only at 5550-5560 worth initaitng new long positions. On the upside, Nifty should head to target of 5638-5648 levels. A break above this will give expiry for the current Series around 5685-5715 range."

The Asian markets ended higher. The Nikkei advanced 91 points to 9,554 levels, Taiwan advanced 80 points to 8,001. Shanghai advanced 20 points to 2,401 and the Hang Seng added 26 points to 21,504.

Back home, SBI is the top Sensex loser, down 4.4% to Rs 2,344. DLF has also shed 4.2% to Rs 247. Sterlite Industries, Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Gail India, L&T, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, HUL and HDFC have also shed 1-4% each in trades so far.

On the other hand, ONGC is the top gainer, up 1.4% to Rs 296 near its nine month high price extending its previous day’s 4% rally, on reports that the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) is expected to meet on Friday, February 24 to chalk out a roadmap for the company’s stake auction.

TCS, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, HDFC Bank, reliance Industries, ITC, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors are also among the notable gainers.

Consumer durables, realty and banking stocks are amongst the worst hit in trades so far. The BSE Consumer Durables index has shed 2.4% or 168 points to 6,698 levels. Realty index is down 2.3% to 2,119. From the consumer durables space, Titan Industries is the top loser, down 4% to Rs 234. It is followed by TTK Prestige, C Mahendra Exports, Videocon, Blue Star and VIP Industries.

BSE banking index- Bankex has also shed nearly 2% or 232 points to 12,606 levels. Canara Bank, bank of Baroda, Bank of India, PNB, IDBI Bank, Union Bank, Yes Bank and Axis Bank are the top losers from this space.

Metal, PSU, Capital Goods, Power, Auto and FMCG indices are also trading lower.

At the same time, IT, oil & gas and healthcare stocks are witnessing some amount of buying.

The broader markets are also trading lower, The BSE mid-cap index has shed nearly1% or 60 points to 6,544 levels and the small-cap index is down 63 points at 7,138 levels.

Among the individual stocks, Raj Television Network has galloped 11% to Rs 113.35, extending its previous day’s 8% rally, after the company has entered an agreement with Tamilnadu Government Cable Network- Arasu Cable.

Jubilant Life Sciences has surged 9% to Rs 211 after the company said its subsidiary Jubilant HollisterStier secured contracts worth of $90 million (approx Rs 444 crore) for the commercial manufacturing of sterile parenteral products for sale in the United States and Europe.

Onelife Capital Advisors has rallied 11% to Rs 339, highest level since its listing in October 2011, on announcing acquisition of a group company engaged in the agricultural and related business activities.

The overall breadth is negative as 1,729 stocks are declining while 1,022 are advancing.