Auto stocks drag equity indices amid weak sentiment

Equities traded on a weak note during early hours on Monday amid mixed global markets and firming oil prices.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down 95 points at 39,091 while the Nifty 50 slipped 19 points to 11,705. Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty auto down 1.2 per cent.

Among stocks, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Hero MotorCorp traded over 2 per cent lower. Bajaj Auto, Maruti, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra and Dr Reddy were other prominent losers.

Those which showed some gains were Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, Britannia and Ultratech Cement.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were mixed as investors monitored developments in the Middle East where the geopolitical situation is worsening by the day.

Traders also awaited an expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping later this week on the sidelines of G-20 summit in Japan.

.