Mid-Day Mood | Indices trade lower as consolidation continues, Nifty falls below 19,500

All sectors were trading in the red at noon with metal index taking the sharpest hit, down 1.7 percent. Midcap and smallcap indices also saw selling pressure, down over 1.5 percent each

The markets opened lower and selling intensified as the day advanced with investors looking out for safety for their money amid deepening crisis in the Middle East, spike in crude oil prices and rising bond yields in the US.

By mid-day, the Sensex was down 197.81 points or 0.30 percent at 65,199.81, and the Nifty was down 76.20 points or 0.39 percent at 19,466.50.

About 648 shares advanced, 2,573 shares declined, and 124 shares traded unchanged.

The move follows US markets' lower close on Friday with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq falling more than 1 percent each.

Follow our live blog for all the market action

Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza overnight on Saturday and into Sunday, as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants as the war threatened to engulf more of the Middle East.

Though crude prices eased a bit on Monday, Brent and WTI contracts remained elevated above $90 a barrel. On the other hand, the 10-year US yields hovered near the 5 percent mark, making the case for equities weaker.

"Amid consolidation, short-term supports for the Nifty is between 19,100 and 19,200. The downside risk on the Nifty is towards 19,100. Banks are at a risk to take the Nifty lower," said Laurence Balanco of CLSA told CNBC-TV18.

All sectors were trading in the red by noon with the metal index taking the sharpest hit, down 1.7 percent. Midcap and smallcap indices also saw selling pressure, down over 1.5 percent each. Nifty Bank was trading lower by 0.1 percent weighed down by Kotak Mahindra Bank.

While Kotak Mahindra Bank's September quarter numbers were in-line with analyst estimates, the appointment of new managing director and chief executive officer Ashok Vaswani was not well-received by the Street.

"So far, Kotak has been run largely by a core team headed by a promoter-CEO that has not changed since inception. While the new CEO brings with him rich experience in digital and consumer banking, going by the experiences at other banks, we believe it would take the new CEO at least 18–24 months to implement his perspectives," according to Nuvama's Mahrukh Adajania and Madhukar Ladha.

The ICICI Bank stock, on the other hand, gained 1 percent after the lender’s standalone profit and net interest income (NII) growth in the July-September quarter (Q2FY24) exceeded Street estimates.

In the midcap space, BSE Ltd gained over 6 percent  as it announced an increase in transaction charges on the equity derivatives segment with effect from November 1. These changes will primarily be levied on the S&P BSE Sensex Options, particularly the nearest or immediate expiry contracts.

Among losers, shares of Amber Enterprises tumbled 11 percent to Rs 2,712 on the NSE after the company’s net loss widened to Rs 5.6 crore in the September-ended quarter as against loss of Rs 2.2 crore in the year-ago period.