Equities remain range-bound, HCL Tech top gainer

Equity indices remained range-bound in lacklustre trading on Wednesday amid weak global cues as investors awaited corporate results for the second fiscal quarter.

The BSE S & P Sensex closed 95 points lower at 39,059 while the Nifty 50 was up by 16 points at 11,604. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty PSU bank up by 2 per cent and auto by 1.2 per cent. Metal, private bank and realty were in the red.

Among stocks, HCL Technologies was the top winner with gains of 3.5 per cent at Rs 1,102 per share. Infosys, which had plunged by 16.65 per cent a day earlier, moved into the green zone by a margin of 2.3 per cent.

Eicher Motors, Maruti, JSW Steel, State Bank of India and Titan also showed gains of over 1.8 per cent.

However, Adani Ports lost by over 6 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 3.6 per cent and Vedanta by 2.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian markets fell after British lawmakers rejected the government's schedule to fast-track legislation for a Brexit deal despite voting for the bill. That effectively meant that Britain will not be able to finalise its exit by the October 31 deadline.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped by 0.82 per cent, Shanghai Composite by 0.43 per cent and South Korea's Kospi by 0.39 per cent. But Japan's Nikkei showed a gain of 0.34 per cent.

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