Equity indices trade with negative bias, financial stocks suffer

Equity benchmark indices traded in red with thin margins during early hours on Monday tracking mixed cues from Asian markets. At 10:20 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 278 points or 0.6 per cent at 49,580 while the Nifty 50 fell by 57 points or 0.4 per cent to 14,686.

Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchanges were in the negative terrain expect from Nifty pharma which was up by 1.3 per cent while realty was up by 1.2 per cent. Nifty FMCG, metal and IT also gained marginally. Nifty private bank slipped by 0.9 per cent, financial services by 0.7 per cent.

Among stocks, Powergrid and IndusInd Bank skidded by 2 per cent each while Reliance fell by 1.9 per cent to Rs 2,041 per share. The banking sector also traded with negative bias with Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank among the losers.

However, Adani Ports and Cipla gained by 2.2 per cent each, Sun Pharma was up by 2 per cent to Rs 588 per share. Divi's Laboratories ticked up by 1.8 per cent and BPCL by 1.7 per cent to Rs 440 per share. Dr Reddy, Britannia, Wipro, Gail and Tech Mahindra were among other prominent gainers.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng skidded by 0.18 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 225 by 1.32 per cent. South Korea's Kopsi edged higher marginally.