Equity indices flat in volatile trading, Yes Bank jumps 20 pc

Equity benchmark indices wobbled during early hours on Wednesday as their Asian peers dropped amid spreading coronavirus (Covid-19) globally.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 69 points to 35,566 while the Nifty 50 dipped by 32 points at 10,419.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty IT down by 1.4 per cent, metal by 0.9 per cent and FMCG by 0.8 per cent.

Among stocks, Yes Bank was up by 20 per cent at Rs 25.50 per share as State Bank of India readied a reconstruction plan for the troubled private sector lender, which has been grappling with mounting bad loans and struggling to raise fresh capital.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up by 4.05 per cent at Rs 1,159.25 per share. Among the other major gainers were Bharti Infratel, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and ICICI Bank.

However, GAIL dropped by 3.8 per cent while metal majors JSW Steel, Hindalco and Tata Steel swung lower by about 2.6 per cent each. IT major Infosys too dipped by 2.4 per cent.Meanwhile, Asian shares and Wall Street futures fell amid growing scepticism about Washington's stimulus package to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan down by 0.29 per cent while Japan's Nikkei stock index slid by 1.28 per cent.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said he will take major steps to ease economic strains caused by the spread of flu-like virus. But the lack of major announcements since then has left some investors unimpressed.