Equity indices dip 1 pc, autos and financials suffer

Equity benchmark indices erased early gains and closed nearly 1 per cent lower on Friday amid profit booking by traders in auto, banking and pharma stocks.

The BSE S&P Sensex witnessed a high of 51,822 and a low of 50,538 but closed 487 points or 0.95 per cent lower from previous close at 50,792.

The Nifty 50 also edged lower by 144 points or 0.95 per cent at 15,031. Investors refrained from building new buying positions as bond yields rose in global markets and Covid cases shot up domestically in certain states.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty auto down by 1.6 per cent, PSU bank by 1.7 per cent, private bank by 1.1 per cent and pharma by 1 per cent.

Among stocks, Bajaj Auto fell by 3 per cent to close at Rs 3,751 per share. Maruti Suzuki skidded by 2.3 per cent and Hero MotoCorp lost by 2 per cent.

The other prominent losers were HDFC Life, SBI Life, Ad Ports, Hindalco, Sun Pharma and UltraTech Cement. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped by 2 per cent to close at Rs 2,136.90 per share.

However, IDBI Bank surged by 9.8 per cent to Rs 42 per share after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) removed it from the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework on improving finances and credit profile.

Energy majors advanced with Bharat Petroleum Corporation up by 3 per cent, IndianOil Corporation by 2.6 per cent, ONGC by 0.7 per cent and Power Grid Corporation by 2.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian shares pushed higher after US President Joe Biden signed a 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus bill into law and as a retreat in bond yields overnight eased global concerns about rising inflation.

Seoul's Kospi added 1.35 per cent while Japan's Nikkei rose by 1.73 per cent. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped by 2.2 per cent on US-China tensions.

( With inputs from ANI )