Equity indices flat, IT and pharma scrips gain
Aug 17, 2021
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 17 : Equity benchmark gauges were at flat levels during early hours on Tuesday amid slim gains in Asian markets with investors concerned about the outlook of global macroeconomic data after the spread of Covid-19 virus.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 30 points or 0.05 per cent at 55,553 while the Nifty 50 moved lower by 5 points or 0.03 per cent to 16,558.
Sectoral indices were mixed with Nifty IT surging by 1.1 per cent, pharma by 1 per cent and FMCG by 0.7 per cent. But Nifty PSU bank and private bank were down by 0.8 per cent.
Among stocks, private lenders lost with IndusInd Bank down by 1.6 per cent to Rs 997.95 per share while HDFC Bank slipped by 1.5 per cent, Axis Bank by 1 per cent and ICICI Bank by 0.7 per cent.
HDFC, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp too traded with a negative bias.
However, IT stocks gained with Tech Mahindra moving up by 3.7 per cent, Tata Consultancy Services by 1 per cent, Infosys and Wipro by 0.4 per cent. Cipla, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's too traded with a positive bias.
Meanwhile, Asian shares declined in early trade as growing anxiety over the spike in the Delta variant of Covid-19 infections and turmoil in Afghanistan eclipsed overnight strength on Wall Street.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped by 0.68 per cent while South Korea's Kospi was down by 0.94 per cent. Japan's Nikkei crawled up by 0.09 per cent.
