Volatile Nifty falls below 5600; SBI, ICICI Bank, L&T slip

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The Nifty slipped below the 5600 level amid choppy trade, weighed down by banks and metals stocks. L&T and Bharti Airtel too were under pressure. However, oil & gas, technology and auto stocks were supporting the market. The Sensex fell 21 points to 18,407.33 and the Nifty slipped 11 points to 5,595.80.

Anil Manghnani of Modern Shares & Stock Brokers says investors need to be a little more cautious right now because volatility will increase based on the events at hand. The hefty premium indicates the market is getting too long and more and more shorts are getting sucked out of the system, he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Shares of country's largest lender SBI fell more than 3% after Hindustan Times reports that Kingfisher Airlines will get Rs 1650 crore relief package from SBI. ICICI Bank too was down 1.8%.

Among others, Bharti, M&M, HUL, Tata Steel, DLF, Sterlite, NTPC and Jindal Steel dropped 0.8-1.9%.

However, shares of oil & gas majors and index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ONGC were up 1% & 2.6%, respectively.

Technology stocks like TCS, Infosys and Wipro gained 0.4-1%. Among auto stocks, Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki climbed 0.3-0.9%.

In the capital goods space, BHEL rose 0.6% while L&T tumbled 1.5%.

At 9:19 hours IST: Nifty holds 5600 amid choppy trade; ONGC shoots up 4%

The Sensex opened with 50 points gap up on Wednesday, while the Nifty stayed above the 5600 level , supported by auto, capital goods, FMCG and metals stocks. However, the fall in banks limited the upside.

The BSE benchmark was up 43.52 points at 18,472.13 and the NSE benchmark rose 8.35 points to 5,615.50.

Among frontliners, ONGC up 4% ahead of EGoM meeting on for divestment on February 24.

Sterlite Industries gained 2.65% after yesterday's sell-off.

Among others, SAIL, Tata Steel, BHEL, Reliance Power, Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure, Coal India and PNB were supporting the market.

However, ACC, Ambuja Cements, Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank and SBI were down about 0.5% in early trade.

The CNX Midcap Index rose 41 points to 8,021. About 3.5 shares advanced for every share rising on the National Stock Exchange.

In the second line shares, Indiabulls Power, Lanco Infratech, Suzlon Energy and Adani Power climbed 1-3%.

Financial Technologies rose nearly 2% as its promoted company MCX launched its IPO today.

Kingfisher Airlines was up 2.4% as Hindustan Times reports that company will get Rs 1650 crore relief package from SBI. However, SBI says it cannot confirm loan to KFA due to client confidentiality. United Breweries Holdings gained 2.8%.

Firstsource Solutions shot up 4.5%. Allahabad Bank gained nearly a percent as its board members will meet today to consider issue of shares on preferential basis.

However, Essar Oil and DCB fell around 1.5%.

On the global front, Asian markets mixed on Wednesday. Shanghai, Nikkei and Taiwan were marginally higher while Hang Seng and Straits Times fell 0.3-0.6%.