Equity indices end flat after volatile trading, banking stocks dip
Oct 13, 2020
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Oct 13 : Equity benchmark indices oscillated between gains and losses on Tuesday, a day after official data showed falling industrial growth and rising inflation amid rising Covid-19 cases.
Market experts said this could leave little scope for the Reserve Bank of India to lower interest rates anytime soon in a bid to revive economic growth.
At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 32 points or 0.08 per cent at 40,626 while the Nifty 50 gained by 4 points or 0.03 per cent at 11,935.
All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red except for Nifty IT which moved up by 1.3 per cent and metal which crawled up by 0.4 per cent.
But Nifty pharma dipped by 1.8 per cent, PSU bank by 1.5 per cent, private bank and financial service by 0.9 per cent each, and auto by 0.6 per cent.
Among stocks, index heavyweight Reliance Industries gained by 1.8 per cent to close at Rs 2,279 per share.
IT majors HCL Technologies and Infosys were up by 4 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively while Tech Mahindra inched up by 0.8 per cent.
The other gainers included Kotak Mahindra Bank, Eicher Motors, JSW Steel, Hindalco and Coal India.
However, private lender ICICI Bank fell by 2.1 per cent, Axis Bank by 1.7 per cent, HDFC Bank by 1.5 per cent and State Bank of India by 1.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, Asian shares slipped despite a firmer Wall Street lead with a buoyant tech sector and fresh optimism about US stimulus expected to continue to support sentiment.
In Japan, the Nikkei was up by 0.18 per cent but South Korea's Kospi was down by 0.02 per cent. Shanghai composite index gained a bit by 0.04 per cent.
