Sensex, Nifty Marginally Higher Led By TCS, Maruti: Midday Market Update

India's benchmark stock indices gave up most of their earlier gains to turn volatile after the Finance Minister failed to make any major announcements in the interim budget for 2024.

Indices were marginally higher due to gains in Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

At 12:08 p.m., the Nifty 50 were up 20.60 points, or 0.09%, at 21,746.30, and the Sensex rose 98.03 points, or 0.14%, to 71,850.14.

"With expectations for the interim budget to be mainly a vote-on-account, lacking significant announcements, the index is likely to maintain a narrow range," said Shrey Jain, founder and chief executive officer at SAS Online. "Traders are advised to stick to their stop-loss strategies and closely monitor price movements for guidance."

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Maruti Suzuki Ltd., ITC Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Power Grid Corp. Of India contributed the most to the Nifty 50.

Meanwhile, those of Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd., UltraTech Cement Ltd., Bajaj Finance Ltd., and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. weighed on the index.

Most sectoral indices fell with Nifty Realty and Nifty Media falling over 1%. Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG, and Nifty Energy gained.

The broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices, with the S&P BSE Midcap falling 0.49% and the S&P BSE Smallcap declining 0.39% through midday on Thursday.

Eleven out of the 20 stocks declined and nine stocks gained on the BSE. The S&P BSE Telecommunication fell the most among sectoral indices.

Market breadth was skewed in favour of the sellers. Around 1,995 stocks fell, 1,648 stocks rose, and 143 stocks remained unchanged on BSE.