Sensex retreats 163 points, private banks hit

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Aug 18 : Equity benchmark indices erased intra-day gains and closed in the red on Wednesday as traders booked profit at higher levels.
At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 163 points or 0.29 per cent at 55,629 while the Nifty 50 moved lower by 46 points or 0.28 per cent to 16,569.
Sectoral indices were mixed with Nifty FMCG up by 0.7 per cent and PSU bank by 0.3 per cent. But Nifty private bank was down by 0.9 per cent, metal by 0.8 per cent, realty by 0.7 per cent and financial service by 0.6 per cent.
Among stocks, Kotak Mahindra Bank lost by 2.3 per cent to Rs 1,747 per share while ICICI Bank slipped by 2 per cent, and IndusInd Bank by 1.2 per cent.
The other prominent losers were Hindalco, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, HDFC and Wipro. However, among those which gained were Eicher Motors, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, Britannia and Bajaj Auto.
Meanwhile, Asian shares ticked higher even as overnight declines on Wall Street reinforced worries about the economic impact of Delta coronavirus variant sweeping through the region.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.59 per cent while South Korea's Kospi moved up by 0.5 per cent on institutional investor buying. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up by 0.47 per cent due to boost in financial and tech stocks.