Equity indices close in red, Nestle drops 2 pc

Equity benchmark indices turned volatile in the last hour of trade on Thursday and closed with mild losses.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 81 points or 0.17 per cent lower at 48,093 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 9 points or 0.06 per cent to 14,137.

But except for Nifty FMCG, IT and pharma, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain with Nifty metal gaining by 3.8 per cent, realty by 1.3 per cent and auto by 0.5 per cent.

Among stocks, Tata Steel added gains of 5.3 per cent at Rs 719.90 while Hindalco moved up by 4.8 per cent and JSW Steel by 0.8 per cent.

The other major gainers were Bharti Airtel, Ad Ports, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finserv.

However, FMCG stocks fell with Nestle India tumbling by 2 per cent, Hindustan Unilever by 1.8 per cent and ITC by 1 per cent.

IT majors HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra too slipped by 1.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets rose in anticipation of a big borrowing and big spending by US Democrat administration driving growth, following runoff elections that gave the party control of both houses of US Congress.

Japan's Nikkei rose by 1.6 per cent and South Korea's Kospi by 2.1 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by 0.5 per cent.

Wall Street indexes eased overnight from session highs as police evacuated lawmakers and struggled for more than three hours to clear the Capitol of Trump supporters.

( With inputs from ANI )