Equity gauges down on weak global cues, Nifty PSU bank slips 2 pc

Equity benchmark indices traded lower during early hours on Thursday following weak global cues amid concerns about rising coronavirus cases and extension of lockdown measures in some countries.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S-P Sensex was down by 387 points or 0.79 per cent at 48,793 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 107 points or 0.68 per cent to 14,442.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative zone.

Nifty PSU bank dipped by 2 per cent while Nifty realty was down by 1.8 per cent, IT by 1.4 per cent and auto by 1.2 per cent.

Among stocks, Eicher Motors lost by 2.1 per cent to Rs 2,603.70 per share while Tata Motors fell by 2.2 per cent to Rs 287.90 per unit.

State Bank of India cracked by 1.5 per cent, IndusInd Bank by 1.6 per cent, Bajaj Finance by 1.8 per cent and Kotak Mahindra Bank by 1.9 per cent.

However, those which gained marginally were Tata Steel, JSW Steel, ONGC, GAIL and Cipla.

Meanwhile, Asian equities bounced between gains and losses as a selloff in Chinese technology shares due to concerns they will be delisted from US bourses and worries about a semiconductor shortage rattled some investors.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 0.1 per cent.

Hong Kong shares fell sharply at the open but then trimmed their losses to a 0.18 per cent decline.

Elsewhere, Japanese stocks rose by 0.71 per cent.