Nifty, Sensex Off Day's Low As L&T, Reliance Industries Rise: Midday Market Update

India's benchmark stock indices were trading off their day's low by midday on Friday after shares of Reliance Industries Ltd. and L&T Ltd. rose over 1% while HDFC Bank continued to weigh.

At 12:06 p.m., the Nifty was trading 0.11%, or 25.80 points, lower at 24,276.35, and the Sensex fell 0.26%, or 211.56 points, to trade at 79,838.11.

When a correction happens, it is difficult to find a trigger, said Dipan Mehta, founder and director of Elixir Equities. Currently, even softer corporate earnings are not impacting the market because of the surge of inflows coming in from retail investors, Mehta said.

Valuations have gone way beyond what their averages should have been, he said. He advises against investing new money and liquidating holdings whose earnings are disappointing.

Shares of HDFC Bank Ltd., Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Titan Co. Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., and Tata Steel Ltd. were weighing on the Nifty.

While those of Reliance Industries Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd., State Bank of India, and Infosys Ltd. were contributing to the index.

Most sectoral indices were trading higher, with Nifty Pharma leading and Nifty Finance losing the most.

Broader indices outperformed their larger peers, with the S&P BSE Midcap rising 0.52% and S&P BSE Smallcap gaining 0.82% through midday on Friday.

Four out of the 20 sectoral indices declined and 16 advanced. S&P BSE Financial Services fell the most.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of the buyers. Around 2,133 stocks rose, 1620 fell, and 119 remained unchanged on the BSE.