Stock market midday report: Sensex down 41 points, Nifty around 17,560

Despite encouraging signs from other Asian markets, Indian stock benchmarks remained volatile in the late morning session, with both the Sensex and the Nifty trading in red territory. Traders were wary in the aftermath of a private report claiming that the Finance Ministry’s internal predictions for real GDP growth in FY23 are lower than the 8-8.5% put forth in the 2021-22 Economic Survey.

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On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green with Nikkei 225 surging 161.06 points or 0.59% to 27,402.37, Hang Seng increased 645.05 points or 2.71% to 24,447.31, Jakarta Composite soared 24.13 points or 0.36% to 6,707.98, KOSPI rose 34.63 points or 1.28% to 2,742.45 and Straits Times advanced 6.27 points or 0.19% to 3,322.26.

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The Sensex is now trading at 58746.54, down 41.48 points or 0.07% after ranging between 58475.97 and 58943.62. On the index, there were 13 stocks that advanced and 17 stocks that declined.

The broader indices were trading mixed with the BSE Midcap index was down by 0.10%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.13%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.19%, Basic Materials up by 1.21%, Consumer Durables up by 0.84%, Utilities up by 0.68% and Oil & Gas up by 0.49%, while Realty down by 1.56%, Auto down by 0.62%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.28%, Bankex down by 0.28% and Energy down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

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The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.95%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.25%, Titan Co up by 0.79%, ITC up by 0.75% and HCL Tech. up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.85%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.68%, ICICI Bank down by 0.62%, Reliance Industries down by 0.55% and TCS down by 0.52% were the top losers.

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The Nifty is presently trading at 17559.20, down 1.00 point or 0.01% after ranging between 17480.30 and 17617.80. On the index, there were 23 stocks that advanced and 27 stocks that declined.

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The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.59%, Divi’s Lab up by 1.93%, Tata Steel up by 1.91%, JSW Steel up by 1.72% and ONGC up by 1.49%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp is down by 2.07%, Eicher Motors is down by 1.42%, Bajaj Auto is down by 1.40%, Tata Consumer Products is down by 1.05% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.01% were the top losers.