SENSEX, NIFTY50 edge lower; auto, IT shares fall, metal stocks outperform

The Indian equity benchmarks were flip flopping between positive and negative territory in morning deals on Monday, March 16 as gains in ITC, Ultratech Cement, State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Larsen & Toubro were offset by losses in Bharti Airtel, Bharat Electronics, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys and Reliance Industries. The SENSEX traded in a band of 462 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 23,248 and a low of 23,098.

As of 9:23 am, the SENSEX was up 71 points at 74,635 and NIFTY50 index advanced 16 points to 23,167.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.3%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.9% and South Korea's KOSPI declined 0.6%.

Back home, 10 of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Realty index's 1.75% fall. NIFTY Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, Pharma, IT, Bank and Financial Services indices were also trading with a negative bias.

On the flip side, metal, FMCG, auto and PSU banking shares were witnessing buying interest.

Broader markets were underperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index fell 0.22% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index dropped 0.8%.

Among the individual shares, IDBI Bank shares fell as much as 15.25% to hit an intraday low of ₹78.05 after a CNBC TV18 report citing sources suggested that the government has cancelled its strategic divestment process.

Ultratech Cement was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 3% to ₹10,932. Grasim, Hindalco, JSW Steel, IndiGo, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel and HDFC Bank also rose between 1.25% and 2.42%.

On the other hand, Bharat Electronics, Shriram Finance, Coal India, ONGC, Max Healthcare, Infosys, Dr Reddy's Labs, Trent and Power Grid were among the top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,577 shares were declining while 1,189 were advancing on the NSE.