Equity indices flat in volatile trade, IT stocks in focus on H-1B visa ban

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 23 : Equity benchmark indices wobbled through volatile trade during early hours on Tuesday as gains in financial and FMCG stocks were offset by losses in IT stocks.
The Trump administration on Monday extended the freeze on the issuance of green cards for new immigrants and suspended a range of work visas for foreigners, including all H-1B and H-4 (for H-1B spouses) till the year-end.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 78 points or 0.22 per cent at 34,990 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 39 points or 0.38 per cent at 10,351. Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain but with negligible margins.
Among stocks, the losers included Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Vedanta.
However, IndusInd Bank was up by 3.6 per cent, Nestle India by 2.1 per cent, JSW Steel by 1.8 per cent and Dr Reddy's by 1.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, Asian shares see-sawed in a wild ride following confusing statements from the White House over the US-China trade deal with President Donald Trump later clarifying the pact was fully intact.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of Japan up by 0.7 per cent. China's blue-chip index regained its losses to be last up 0.3 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed by 0.7 per cent and Japan's Nikkei added 0.8 per cent.