Equity gauges dip, HDFC Bank top loser

Equity benchmark indices dipped by over half a per cent during early hours on Wednesday amid mixed global cues with banking and financial stocks taking a hit.

At 10:15 am, the BSE SandP Sensex was down by 417 points or 0.83 per cent at 49,719 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 91 points or 0.61 per cent to 14,754.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty financial service lower by 1.3 per cent, private bank by 1 per cent and IT by 0.5 per cent.

But Nifty metal, PSU bank rose by 1 per cent each.

Among stocks, HDFC Bank lost by 3 per cent to Rs 1,506.40 per share while home loan lender HDFC was down by 2.8 per cent to Rs 2,531.

ICICI Bank ticked lower by 1.4 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 0.7 per cent, Tech Mahindra by 1.1 per cent and Bajaj Auto by 0.7 per cent.

However, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, SBI Life, Adani Ports, Hindalco and Bajaj Finserv traded with a positive bias.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks were on track for their first monthly loss since last October even as investors focused on growing signs of a sure-footed global economic recovery.

Japan's Nikkei was down 0.71 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by 0.31 per cent.

South Korea's Kospi moved up a bit by 0.08 per cent.