Sensex, Nifty halve gains; HDFC, Maruti, BHEL decline

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Market Update: The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 184.04 points or 0.79 percent to 23565.91 and the 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 53.40 points or 0.75 percent to 7161.85.About 1447 shares advanced against 839 declining shares on the BSE.12:45 pm Interview: Brigade Enterprises will launch Brigade Atmosphere in Bangalore, which consists of 4 bedroom villas. The size of villas ranges from 3,010 to 3,410 square feet, says Suresh Kris, CFO of the company.In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he says the project has 109 villas spread over 18 acres. Kris expects price escalation of 10 percent in this project and says the ticket price will be Rs 1.7 crore onwards. The company expects to complete the sale of Brigade Atmosphere over three years.12:30 pm Asia Update: China's Shanghai Composite slipped 1 percent from day's high to close down 0.2 percent at 2863.However, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained more than 2 percent following positive lead from Wall Street.12:20 pm S&P on Union Bank: Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has affirmed its 'BBB-' long-term rating on Union Bank of India (UBI) on expectations that the government will infuse capital into the lender.

"The affirmed rating reflects UBI's sound funding and liquidity positions and a very high likelihood of support from the government of India," S&P said in a statement. It retained the outlook on bank at stable.

The US-based agency said it expects the government to provide "timely and sufficient extraordinary support" to the bank if it comes under financial distress.

It anticipates UBI's asset quality to remain stressed over the next 12 months as the pickup in the economy and debottlenecking is likely to be gradual.Also read - 60-80% mkt damage done; expectations from Budget low: Khemani

12:00 pm Market Check: The market remained higher in noon trade, though it erased some gains from day's high. Private banks, FMCG, technology, pharma and select infra stocks continued to support market while heavyweights like HDFC and Reliance Industries caught in bear grip.The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 150.57 points to 23532.44 and the 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 42.85 points to 7151.30.  The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.5-1 percent.

The market breadth remained in favour of advances as about two shares gained for every share declining on the BSE.Maruti Suzuki and BHEL lost more than 1.5 percent followed by HDFC, Reliance Industries, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank while L&T, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, ONGC, Hero Motocorp and Hindalco gained 3-5 percent.