Equity indices erase gains, financials drag

Equity benchmark indices shaved early gains to end flat on Wednesday as the last day of Q1 FY22 came to a close amid the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 67 points or 0.13 per cent at 52,483 and the Nifty 50 ticked lower by 27 points or 0.17 per cent to 15,722.

Except for Nifty IT which rose by 0.6 per cent, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty private bank and financial service dipping by 0.6 per cent each.

Among stocks, Bajaj Finserv lost by 1.8 per cent to Rs 12,076.20 per share. ICICI Bank dropped by 1.3 per cent and HDFC by 0.9 per cent.

Power Grid Corporation, UPL, NTPC, Eicher Motors and Adani Ports too closed in the negative terrain. However, index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up by 1.1 per cent and closed at Rs 2,112 per share.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were mixed. Hong Kong stocks slipped 0.57 per cent on subdued China data. Japan's Nikkei erased early gains to close 0.07 per cent lower as investors fretted over Delta virus variant.

But South Korean stocks rose by 0.3 per cent on tech stocks boost.

( With inputs from ANI )