Equity indices flat as Trump hints at delay in trade talks

Equity benchmark indices were largely flat during early hours on Wednesday following gloomy global trends after US President Donald Trump said a trade deal with China may have to wait until after the 2020 presidential election.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 90 points to 40,766 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 20 points at 12,014. Except for Nifty metal which slipped by nearly 1 per cent, all other sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with thin margins.

Among stocks, Bharti Infratel gained by 3.5 per cent to Rs 257.10 per share while Tata Motors ticked up by 3 per cent. Private lenders ICICI Bank and Axis Bank showed gains of 1.4 per cent and 0.9 per cent.

The other prominent gainers were Eicher Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Adani Ports, ONGC and Hindustan Lever.

However, metal stocks lost shine with JSW Steel dropping by 2.7 per cent, Tata Steel by 1.3 per cent, Hindalco by 0.8 per cent and Vedanta by 0.5 per cent. Reliance Industries was down by 0.7 per cent to Rs 1,567.60 per share.

Meanwhile, Asian shares extended their losses after US President Donald Trump dashed hopes for a quick preliminary agreement with China on trade tariffs, saying the deal may have to wait until after the 2020 presidential election.

Fresh US tariffs on Argentina and Brazil, as well as threatened duties on French goods, also darkened the mood. MSCI's broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan fell by 0.9 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei dropped by 1.2 per cent, matched by falls in Hong Kong and South Korea where stock markets hit their lowest since October.

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