Late trading wipes out early gains at stock markets

Equity benchmark indices erased morning gains and turned red in the last trading hour on Tuesday.

The S & P BSE Sensex closed 80 points lower at 38,565 while the Nifty 50 dipped about 19 points t0 11,576.

It was a volatile session through the day with stocks oscillating between gains and losses. All sectoral indices closed mixed with autos, metals, pharma, and banking being the worst sufferers.

Among stocks which lost were Maruti, Hero MotorCorp, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Tata Steel.

However, ONGC, Zee Entertainment, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance and Reliance Industries showed marginal gains.

Significantly, shares of Jet Airways surged nearly 10 per cent in trade after losing streak for three consecutive sessions during which it eroded the company's value by 41 per cent.

Reports said the stock has got into a zone where risk-reward has become favourable for high-risk investors.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were mixed with investors extremely cautious after the United States told buying countries of Iranian oil to stop purchases by May 1 or face economic sanctions.

The move pushed Brent toward 75 dollars a barrel, which in turn may lead to currency fluctuations in coming weeks.