Equity indices fall, Reliance tumbles 5.7 pc on profit-booking

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 12 : Equity benchmark indices recovered from an intraday low point on Tuesday but remained in the negative zone ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address the nation later in the evening.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Modi had told Chief Ministers that lockdown to contain the COVID-19 outbreak must be gradually lifted to allow economic activities.
But some reports said that when coronavirus cases are rising, the nationwide lockdown could be extended beyond May 17 with eased restrictions for businesses.
At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 190 points or 0.6 per cent at 31,371 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 43 points or 0.4 per cent at 9,197.
Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty private bank and pharma down by 0.6 per cent each. But Nifty metal was up by 1.1 per cent and FMCG by 0.7 per cent.
Among stocks, shares of Reliance Industries dropped by 5.73 per cent on profit-booking to Rs 1,486.45 per unit.
GAIL was down by 3.7 per cent, Asian Paints by 2.9 per cent, Cipla by 2.6 per cent and Kotak Mahindra Bank by 2.5 per cent. Dr Reddy's, Hindustan Lever, HDFC Bank and Coal India too traded with a negative bias.
However, metal major Vedanta witnessed a dramatic jump of 12.4 per cent to close at Rs 89.50 per share. NTPC gained by 5.9 per cent, ITC and Bharti Airtel by 4.4 per cent each, Bajaj Auto by 3.4 per cent and Bajaj Finance by 2.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, Asian shares retreated on growing worries about a second wave of coronavirus infections after the Chinese city Wuhan where the pandemic originated reported five new cases since its lockdown was lifted.
That cast doubts over efforts to lower COVID-19 related restrictions across the country as businesses restart and individuals went back to work.
Japan's Nikkei stumbled by 0.12 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was among the hardest hit, down 1.45 per cent. South Korea's Kospi faltered by 0.68 per cent.