Equity indices gloomy amid weak global cues

Equity benchmark indices were downbeat during early hours on Friday on the back of weak global cues amid ongoing coronavirus spread and simmering India-China border tensions.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 29 points or 0.08 per cent at 38,811 while the Nifty 50 lost by 1 point or 0.01 per cent at 11,448.

Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative terrain with thin margins. Nifty realty, however, gained by 1.4 per cent and FMCG ticked up by 0.6 per cent.

Among stocks, Ad Ports lowered by 1.9 per cent to Rs 335 per share while private lenders IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank slipped by 1.8 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively.

Among others which lost were HCL Technologies, Eicher Motors, IndianOil Corporation, Bajaj Finance and Power Grid Corporation.

On the other hand, Bharti Infratel, Britannia, Titan, Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp witnessed marginal gains. Realty major DLF advanced by 4.2 per cent to Rs 156.45 per share while Oberoi Realty was up by 0.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian shares struggled to stem a bearish mood after US big tech firm shares fell again overnight on growing doubts about US stimulus. Investors also remained concerned over their stretched valuations.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan dipped by 0.2 per cent but Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.3 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )