Equities indices close flat, Adani stocks gain
Jun 18, 2021
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 18 : Equity benchmark indices swung between gains and losses to close at flat levels on Friday with energy stocks taking a beating.
At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 21 points or 0.04 per cent at 52,344 while the Nifty 50 cracked by 8 points or 0.05 per cent to 15,683.
Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty PSU bank down by 1.7 per cent, metal by 0.9 per cent each, auto by 0.7 per cent and IT by 0.5 per cent.
Among stocks, ONGC shed 3.5 per cent to close at Rs 120.75 per share. Coal India was down by 3.4 per cent, JSW Steel by 3.3 per cent and NTPC by 3.3 per cent.
The other laggards were UPL, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle India, Power Grid Corporation and Tata Motors.
However, Adani Group companies gained after four days of downfall. Adani Enterprises was up by 8.7 per cent and closed at Rs 1,487.85 per share. Adani Ports surged by 7.1 per cent to close at Rs 693.15 per unit.
Reports earlier this week said that National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) has frozen the accounts of three foreign funds which together own over Rs 43,500 crore worth of shares in four Adani Group companies. The Group denied reports.
The other gainers were Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Lever, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank and HDFC Bank.
Meanwhile, Asian shares inched higher but were set for a weekly loss as investors continued to digest comments from the US Federal Reserve projecting interest rate hikes in 2023.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.01 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.85 per cent and Seoul's Kospi was up 0.09 per cent. But Japan's Nikkei fell 0.19 per cent.
