Metals stocks which were hammered in morning trade recovered lost ground with Sterlite Industries, Hindalco and Sesa Goa all trading in the green, while Jindal Steel was trading lower. .

Stocks that lost ground in trade were Tata Consultancy Services, GAIL and HDFC. In fact, on Wednesday Tata Consultancy had surged to a 52-week high and today the stock came in for some profit booking.

Orchid Chemicals continued to trade up and was 2% higher after the company sold its Penicillin and Penem active pharma ingredient (API), including its plant in Aurangabad, to US-based Hospira.

HeroMotor Corp continued to lose ground in morning trade, with the stock trading down 1.5% at 12 noon. Banking shares continued to trade lower with Axis Bank, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank all in the red.

Meanwhile, markets in Europe that are slated to open at 12.30 PM IST, are expected to open lower by at least 0.50%. Markets across the globe are eagerly awaiting a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for possible hopes of Monetary Easing.

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