Equity indices flat, auto and financial majors gain marginally

Equity benchmark indices were flat during early hours on Tuesday as investors globally grappled to assess the economic impact of China's new coronavirus.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 21 points to 41,174 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 3 points at 12,116. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty IT, FMCG and metal in the red.

Among stocks, HDFC gained by 2.8 per cent to Rs 2,463 per share after reporting a four-fold jump in its Q3 net profit at Rs 8.372 crore due to the one-time gain from the merger of Bandhan Bank with Gruh Finance.

The other prominent gainers were Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra and UPL. However, Power Grid Corporation, Nestle India, Vedanta, JSW Steel and Coal India were in the negative terrain.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks extended a global selloff as China took more drastic steps to combat a deadly coronavirus. As the death toll reached 106 in China, some health experts questioned whether Beijing can contain the virus which has spread to more than 10 countries.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan slumped by 1 per cent in early trading. Japan's Nikkei was 0.9 per cent down while South Korea's Kospi index skidded by 3 per cent.

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