Equity indices erase early gains, Nifty PSU bank falls 3.2 pc

Equity benchmark indices erased early gains on Tuesday and closed in the red as traders resorted to profit booking with Nifty PSU bank witnessing a fall of 3.28 per cent.Among stocks, State Bank of India dropped by 4.17 per cent to Rs 171.40 per share.

Equity benchmark indices erased early gains on Tuesday and closed in the red as traders resorted to profit booking with Nifty PSU bank witnessing a fall of 3.28 per cent.

At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 262 points or 0.83 per cent at 31,454 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 88 points or 0.95 per cent at 9,206.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative zone with Nifty realty down by 2.8 per cent, financial service by 2 per cent, private bank by 1.9 per cent and metal by 1.1 per cent.

Among stocks, State Bank of India dropped by 4.17 per cent to Rs 171.40 per share. Axis Bank fell by 3.3 per cent and Kotak Mahindra Bank by 2.8 per cent. Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv slipped by 3.7 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively.The other prominent losers were Britannia, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Coal India and Dr Reddy's. Among the gainers were Bharti Infratel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation, ONGC and Reliance Industries.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose tracking a late Wall Street rally as several governments eased coronavirus lockdowns and oil prices gains on expectations that fuel demand will pick up in coming weeks.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.08 per cent. Markets in China, Japan and South Korea were closed for a holiday.

The optimism about economic recovery from the coronavirus outbreak briefly outweighed the latest war of words between China and the United States over the origins of the pandemic that has shaken the global economy.

( With inputs from ANI )