Equity indices trade flat, banking stocks under pressure
Mumbai, Maharashtra: Equity benchmark indices traded flat during early hours on Friday on the back of mixed cues from their Asian peers. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 119 points or 0.24 percent at 49,865 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 35 points or 0.24 percent to 14,909.
Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty private bank down by 0.5 percent and financial service by 0.3 percent. But Nifty PSU bank rose by 2.9 percent and pharma by 1 percent. Among stocks, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and IndusInd Bank traded half a percent lower while Bajaj Finance lost by 1.7 percent to Rs 4,943.20 per share. UPL, Asian Paints, SBI Life, and IndianOil Corporation too were in the negative zone. However, Tata Motors accelerated by 2.7 percent to Rs 322.60 per share. The other prominent winners were Hindustan Lever, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Bajaj Auto, and Adani Ports. Meanwhile, Asian equities were in a choppy trading session after technology stocks lifted the S&P 500 to a new record. Investors weighed an unexpected rise in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits. Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.41 percent but Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rolled down by 0.9 percent.
