Nifty, Sensex Off Record Highs As Financial Services Stocks Weighs: Midday Market Update

India's benchmark stock indices were trading off record highs during midday on Thursday, tracking losses in financial services such as HDFC Bank Ltd. and Bajaj Finance Ltd. 

At 12:11 a.m., the NSE Nifty 50 was trading 50.10 points, or 0.21%, higher at 24,336.60, and the S&P BSE Sensex gained 161.84 points, or 0.20%, to trade at 80,148.63.

The Nifty 50 hit a record high of 24,401.00, and the Sensex touched a fresh high of 80,392.64 during the opening trade.

The overall trend is positive with a broad-based rally across sectors, said Aamar Deo Singh, senior vice president of Angel One. "What was actually holding back was HDFC Bank, which has the highest weight on the index. Now, that has taken off significantly. Subsequently, Reliance Industries Ltd. and IT stocks also experienced gains. Till the time the trend changes on heavyweight indices, buy on dips. The Nifty 50 has good support around 24,000–24,100."

HDFC Bank Ltd., Bajaj Finance Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., UltraTech Cement Ltd., and Adani Enterprises Ltd. were weighing on the Nifty 50.

ICICI Bank Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., and HCL Technologies Ltd. were contributing to the index.

On the NSE, eight sectors advanced and four declined. The NSE Nifty IT emerged as the top-performing sector with a gain of over 1.23%. The NSE Nifty Media was the worst performing sector. 

Broader markets outperformed benchmarks, with the S&P BSE Midcap and Smallcap rising 0.45% and 0.53%, respectively, during midday on Thursday.

On BSE, 17 sectors advanced and three declined. The S&P BSE IT index was leading the gains. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Financial Services emerged as the worst performer.

Market breadth was skewed in favour of buyers. Around 2,153 stocks advanced, 1,622 stocks declined, and 120 remained unchanged on BSE.