Equities fall amid weak sentiment ahead of GST Council meet

Equity benchmark indices were in the negative zone during early hours on Friday amid subdued Asian markets as investors awaited the outcome of GST Council meet later during the day.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down 172 points at 39,429 while the Nifty 50 slipped 47 points to 11,784. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red.

Among stocks, Jet Airways dived another 10 per cent to Rs 57.60 per share, a day after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted an insolvency plea under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

The process lenders led by State Bank of India to sell the company -- either as a whole or its assets -- will halt uncertainty over the airline's future.

Home loans lender Indiabulls Housing Finance dropped 4.7 per cent while Yes Bank was down over 3 per cent. Tata Motors, Maruti and Indian Oil Corporation also traded with losses.

Those which showed marginal gains were Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Grasim and Coal India.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks were mixed as investors embraced the decisive shift by central banks back to stimulus mode. Japanese, South Korean and Australian shares dipped while Hong Kong's benchmark fluctuated and Shanghai shares rose.

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