Bearish trends continue on D-Street, private banks take a hit

Equity benchmark indices were in the negative territory during morning trade on Thursday as foreign institutional investors continued to be net sellers due to global risk of recession.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 201 points at 37,251 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 60 points to 10,986.

At the National Stock Exchange, sectoral indices were mixed. Nifty banks, financial services, FMCG and IT were in the red while auto, metal, pharma and realty were in the positive zone.

Among stocks, Indiabulls Housing Finance dropped by 4.2 per cent to Rs 437.80 per share. Private lenders Yes Bank and ICICI Bank also slipped by 2.8 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively. The other prominent losers were HDFC, Britannia, Grasim, Hero MotoCorp and Bharti Infratel.

However, Sun Pharma, Eicher Motors, Coal India, IndusInd Bank and Larsen & Toubro witnessed marginal gains.

Meanwhile, Asian shares edged lower as global recession worries from intensifying US-China frictions and signals of a no-deal Brexit drove investors to safer harbours.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.38 per cent, Singapore shares hit eight-month lows, while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.44 per cent.

Market experts say the trade dispute between the United States and China -- now in its second year -- is straining the global economy, forcing policy makers to respond with interest rate cuts and stimulus measures to bolster growth.