Sensex, Nifty, Midcap trim losses; BPCL, Power Grid gain

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Market recovers: The market halved losses in afternoon trade with the Sensex down 121.80 points or 0.52 percent to 23288.38 and the Nifty falling 31.30 points or 0.44 percent to 7078.25.Nearly two shares declined for every share advancing on the BSE.12:40 pm Buzzing: IDBI Bank shares climbed 3 percent intraday after getting approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for raising funds through QIP.

"SEBI has decided to accede to the request to permit the bank to raise capital by issue of equity shares aggregating upto Rs 3,771 crore by way of qualified institutional placement (QIP)," the capital market regulator said in its letter.

The regulator further said that acceptance of bank's request is solely for purpose of achieving minimum level of public shareholding.

As of December 2015, Government of India has 80.16 percent shareholding, which has to be reduced to 75 percent as per SEBI norms for shareholding.12:30 pm Punj Lloyd bags order: Engineering and construction major Punj Lloyd has bagged Rs 308 crore order for construction of luxury villas in Dubai, the UAE.

"The contract has been awarded to Punj Lloyd by Front Line Investment Management Co LLC, subsidiary of Damac Properties Development LLC, for construction of 168 villas...in Dubai," Punj Llyod said in a BSE filing.

With this project, the company's order backlog stands at Rs 25,708 crore.

12:15 pm Market Expert: Market sentiment is fragile on concerns related to developed market growth, widening credit spread and muted domestic corporate earnings, says Nirmal Jain, Chairman of IIFL.Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he says investors should avoid pre-Budget buying as worsening global conditions might continue to rub off on India and that could present better buying opportunities once Budget is out of the way. Jain is bullish on India and believes it will not only feature among the top emerging markets but is also better placed to recover faster amid continuing global crisis.Also read - No dip in SIP contribution; MF inflows have tapered: Kotak MF12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to bleed in noon trade, weighed down by banking & financials, infra, pharma and select FMCG stocks.

The BSE Sensex declined 206.83 points or 0.88 percent to 23203.35 and the NSE Nifty slipped 58.70 points or 0.83 percent to 7050.85. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

The market breadth remained weak as about two shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.BPCL, Power Grid, Infosys and Maruti gained 1-3 percent while Tata Motors, NTPC, HDFC, BHEL, Bajaj Auto and Cairn India fell 2-3 percent.