Equity indices fall mirroring global stocks, Yes Bank top loser

Equity benchmark indices were on a downswing during early hours on Thursday as concerns over the spread of coronavirus from China sent investors heading for safer bets.

While brokerages were hopeful of measures to shore up capital markets in the upcoming Union Budget 2020-21, apprehensions lingered over fiscal constraints and disinvestment targets.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 235 points to 40,963 while the Nifty 50 dipped by 67 points at 12,063.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red except for Nifty auto which moved up by 0.46 per cent. Nifty pharma slipped by 1.07 per cent, metal by 0.86 per cent and FMCG by 0.53 per cent.

Among stocks, Yes Bank showed a decline of 3.8 per cent at Rs 39.60 per share after India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) maintained its long-term issuer rating of A on rating watch negative (RWN) and withdrew its short-term issuer rating of A1.

Reliance Industries fell by over 1 per cent to Rs 1,464.45 per share while metal majors Tata Steel and Hindalco slipped by 1.4 per cent and 1.06 per cent respectively.

The other prominent losers were Zee Entertainment, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, Wipro, Nestle India and HDFC Bank.

However, auto stocks showed a positive trend with Tata Motors advancing by 1.83 per cent to Rs 191.50 per share. Eicher Motors gained by 1.5 per cent and Hero MotoCorp by 1.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks slipped as worries about the spread of a new virus from China sent investors heading for safety. And the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday as expected.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 0.8 per cent to an almost seven-week low. Japan's Nikkei fell by 1 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng extended its drop a day earlier.

.