Mid-day Mood | Sensex, Nifty pare gains as banking stocks fall, inflation data awaited

The Sensex and the Nifty trimmed early gains to traded off the day's high around noon on March 12 amid selling in banking names such as Axis Bank and ICICI Bank.

Investors also turned cautious ahead of the release of key domestic and US inflation data due later in the day. Inflation numbers will be closely watched for the clues they will offer to the US Federal Reserve rate trajectory.

Around noon, the Sensex was up 202.56 points or 0.28 percent at 73,705.20, and the Nifty 50 was up 19.80 points or 0.09 percent at 22,352.50. About 579 shares advanced, 2,698 declined and 57 were unchanged.

In the broader market, BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices fell 1.1 percent and 2.1 percent, underperforming the benchmarks.

Sectoral Trends

Most sectoral indices were in the negative territory. Nifty Realty, media, and PSU bank were the worst hit. Nifty IT was the only major gainer, while Nifty private bank was flat.

Fundamental View

"Despite the market reaching all-time highs, sentiments appear to be somewhat subdued. It may be advisable to focus on trading only in high-quality stocks under such circumstances," said Shrey Jain, Founder and CEO, SAS Online.

Technical View

The expectation of trending moves on the upside is fading away in the absence of strength from the key index heavyweights, said Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst at Sharekhan. "In terms of levels, 22,224–22m167 is the crucial support zone, while 22,530–22,600 is the immediate hurdle zone from short-term perspective."

(This is a developing story. Please come back for more.)