Equity parameters close flat after choppy trading, Yes Bank spurts 36 pc

Equity benchmark indices wobbled through a choppy trading session on Wednesday but closed in the green amid unabated coronavirus concerns globally.

The market sentiment was lifted by gains in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC).

The BSE S & P Sensex closed 62 points higher at 35,697 but the Nifty 50 dipped by 3 points at 10,449.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty PSU bank down by 3.86 per cent, realty by 2.71 per cent, metal by 2.06 per cent and IT by 1.25 per cent.

Among stocks, Yes Bank was up by 36.71 per cent at Rs 29.05 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 3.4 per cent at Rs 1,152 per share on the back of a bounce in oil prices.

Among the other major gainers were ICICI Bank, Bharti Infratel, Hero MotoCorp, Britannia and Hindustan Lever.

However, GAIL dropped by 10.2 per cent to Rs 90.20 per share while metal major Tata Steel swung lower by 7.76 per cent at Rs 297.30.

Tata Motors was down by 6.9 per cent, IndusInd Bank by 6.4 per cent and Bharat Petroleum Corporation by 5.1 per cent.Meanwhile, Asian shares and Wall Street futures fell amid growing skepticism about Washington's stimulus package to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

Japan's Nikkei stock index slid by 2.27 per cent, South Korea's Kospi by 2.78 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng by 0.63 per cent and Shanghai composite by 0.94 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 left some investors unimpressed.