Equity indices slip into red, Hindustan Unilever drops by 2.6 pc

Equity benchmark indices snapped six sessions of gain to trade marginally lower during early hours on Wednesday's tracking mixed global cues and subdued opening of Asian markets.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 46 points or 0.12 per cent at 37,884 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 16 points or 0.14 per cent at 11,146.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty PSU bank down by 1.5 per cent, auto by 1.1 per cent each and IT by 0.6 per cent. Nifty pharma moved up by 1.8 per cent.

Among stocks, Hindustan Unilever dropped by 2.59 per cent to Rs 2,258.05 per share despite the FMCG major reporting 7 per cent hike in its Q1 FY21 net profit at Rs 1,881 crore.

Hero MotoCorp skidded by 1.7 per cent, Bajaj Auto by 1.4 per cent, State Bank of India by 1.6 per cent and IndusInd Bank by 1.5 per cent.

Bajaj Finance too slipped by 1.6 per cent after reporting 19 per cent fall in its Q1 consolidated net profit at Rs 962 crore. Larsen & Toubro, UPL and Bharat Petroleum Corporation too traded with a negative bias.

However, Axis Bank advanced by 4.5 per cent to Rs 466.45 per share despite posting 19 per cent dip in its Q1 net profit at Rs 1,112 crore.

Dr Reddy's was up by 3.2 per cent and Cipla by 1.2 per cent. ITC, Titan, Vedanta and Coal India were in the green with thin margins.

Meanwhile, Asian markets traded mixed after US President Donald Trump warned the US pandemic may get worse before it gets better.

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

( With inputs from ANI )