Equity benchmarks Sensex, which opened on a positive note on Thursday, slipped more than 200 points by noon, trading at 51,436.47 on weak global trends. Among the losers were a mixture of equity funds, chemical firms and financial service providers.
Bucking the trend, however, were some PSU banks, and index majors Infosys, Reliance Industries and SBI. In early morning trade, the 30-share BSE index was trading 61.08 points or 0.12 % higher at 51,764.91. But by 12 noon, it was at 51,436.47, down 276.36 points.
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ONGC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3% in early trade, followed by Tech Mahindra, SBI, Infosys, HCL Tech and Asian Paints.
On the other hand, M&M, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Bank were among the laggards.
In the previous session, Sensex slumped 400.34 points or 0.77% to close at 51,703.83. The broader NSE Nifty tumbled 104.55 points or 0.68 % to 15,208.90.
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Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,008.20 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Persistent inflows from FPIs, which was the key driving force for markets in recent period, are expected to sustain, he added.
US equities finished mostly lower on Wednesday. However, Dow Jones witnessed its third straight record close after minutes from FOMC’s January meeting echoed Powell’s last week of dovish statements.
Fed policy makers reiterated that they need to see sustained inflation before considering the end of the bond buying programme. Hence, situations like taper tantrum are still away, in our view. Investors will be keenly watching out progress on passage of the quantum of fiscal stimulus in the near term, Modi said.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals, while those in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were in the red.
Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.24 per cent higher at USD 65.14 per barrel.
