Equity indices largely flat, PSU banks slide but IT and autos gain

Equity benchmark indices dithered during early hours on Friday in the absence of a fresh stimulus package to reverse the slowdown in economic growth despite global liquidity seeing strength in stocks.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was down by 73 points at 37,031 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 28 points to 10,954.

At the National Stock Exchange, sectoral indices were mixed with Nifty auto, FMCG, IT and media showing marginal gains. But Nifty PSU bank slipped by over 2 per cent while pharma, realty and financial services too were in the negative zone.

Among stocks, Yes Bank dropped by 4.5 per cent to Rs 64.56 per share while State Bank of India slipped by 1.4 per cent and HDFC Bank by 0.8 per cent lower.

The other prominent losers were Indiabulls Housing Finance, Bharti Airtel, Bharat Petroleum, UPL, Britannia and GAIL.

However, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Maruti, Titan, ITC and Hindustan Lever showed marginal gains.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks advanced amid hints of progress in US-China trade talks and stimulus from the European Central Bank (ECB).

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up by 0.3 per cent though mainland China and South Korea were closed for public holidays. Japan's Nikkei rose 1 per cent to four-month highs.

The ECB has cut its main deposit rate by 10 basis points to minus 0.5 per cent, a record low but in line with market expectations.

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