Sensex Under Pressure, Bank Nifty Falls 1%; Pfizer Up 9%

[PraniShah]

The market is going directionless in early morning trade. Weighed down by weakness in banking stocks, the market is unable to make any decisive move.

The Sensex is down 47.79 points at 20843.03, and the Nifty is down 15.10 points at 6188.25. About 1026 shares have advanced, 484 shares declined, and 78 shares are unchanged. Bank Nifty is down over 1 percent with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank as major losers.

Infosys, Cipla and L&T are other losers in the Sensex. However, realty and power stocks are seeing good buying. Tata Power, Sesa Sterlite, BHEL, NTPC and Coal India are top gainers in the Sensex.

Gold was trading in a tight range as investors awaited the release of the minutes of a US Federal Reserve policy meeting later in the session for clues on when the bank will trim its stimulus, reports Reuters.

Bullion failed to make any headway despite dovish comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke about the bank's bond purchases as a lack of major US economic data and lacklustre physical demand prevented investors from taking any big positions.