Sensex, Nifty under pressure; PSU stocks lower, metals shine

Moneycontrol Bureau12:36 pm US Navy contract: Reliance Defence (formerly known as Pipavav Shipyard Limited & Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company Limited) has signed a landmark deal with the US Navy for undertaking service, repair and the maintenance work of the Seventh Fleet of US Navy.Sources suggest that the fleet boasts of close to 100 ships and the contract is worth around Rs 15,000 crore which will be spread across next 3-5 years.This deal is a significant achievement for India - as a country - and Reliance Defence, as it becomes the only Indian company which will service US Navy ships in an Indian port. Prior to this these ships were serviced at either Singapore or other Asian countries.The ships which patrol waters of Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean regularly will arrive at Pipavav Port in Gujarat for maintenance work.Also read - Buy, sell, hold: How to trade 12 key stocks post Q3 results?12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks remained under pressure amid volatility in noon trade as investors remained on sidelines ahead of last batch of corporate earnings this week and assembly elections of five states that will end by March 8.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 68.85 points at 28265.40 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 22.70 points to 8770.85.

The broader markets underperformed benchmarks, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices falling 0.8 percent each on weak breadth. About two shares declined for every share rising on the exchange.

PSU stocks were under pressure today, with Nifty CPSE down 1.5 percent and PSU Bank down 3 percent.

Bank of Baroda tanked more than 8 percent on asset quality concerns despite management assured that slippages will be contained going forward.

Idea Cellular was down 3 percent post Q3 earning disappointment and added negative was lack of commentary on merger with Vodafone.

SRF lost 10.5 percent on the back of lacklustre earnings and Indo Count shed 7 percent owing to operational weakness in Q3.

Vedanta and Hindalco (ahead of Q3 earnings) gained 2-3 percent as base metals extended gains. Copper prices surged to 2-year high and iron ore futures were at two and a half year high. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects Hindalco to post strong earnings on a low base.