Banking and financials drag down equity indices, ICICI Bank top loser
Aug 20, 2020
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Aug 20 : Equity benchmark indices snapped three-days of winning streak during early hours on Thursday on weak global cues after the Federal Reserve warned that the US economic recovery faces a highly uncertain path.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 291 points or 0.75 per cent at 38,324 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 75 points or 0.66 per cent at 11,333.
Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty private bank and financial service dipping by 1 per cent each.
Among stocks, ICICI Bank lost by 2.2 per cent to Rs 366.30 per share while IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank retreated by 1.5 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively.
Titan, HDFC, ITC, Asian Paints, Larsen & Toubro and Adani Ports too traded with a negative bias.
However, NTPC, Power Grid Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindalco, Cipla and Britannia showed marginal gains.
Meanwhile, Asian equities fell due to the US Federal Reserve's cautious view of the economy, tensions with China and new clusters of coronavirus infections.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan slid by 1.24 per cent and shares in China fell by 0.8 per cent.
Japanese stocks dropped by 0.77 per cent while South Korean stocks tumbled by 2.11 per cent amid a spike in coronavirus cases in Seoul.
