Nifty settles below 11,850 mark, IT stocks slip

Late hour trading in stocks wiped out early gains on Thursday and equity benchmark indices ended marginally lower as US President Donald Trump demanded India withdraws retaliatory tariffs imposed earlier his month.

IT stocks dropped as Trump called the duties unacceptable while investors took it as a signal of worsening trade ties between the two countries.

The BSE S & P Sensex closed six points lower at 39,586 while the Nifty 50 was also down by six points at 11,842.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), sectoral indices of IT, FMCG, metal and PSU banks were in the red at closing.

Among stocks, Tech Mahindra slipped 2.1 per cent at Rs 703.05 per share while HCL Tech dropped 1.6 per cent to wind up at Rs 942.95 apiece. Heavyweight Reliance Industries was down 1.4 per cent while Hindalco and UPL also traded with losses.

Those which gained were Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Eicher Motors, and Bharti Infratel.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks edged up though volumes were lower across the board. Shares in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong saw modest gains.

US President Trump indicated optimism on Wednesday for a trade agreement with China but said he is still considering imposing tariffs on all Chinese imports.

It is hoped that the world's two largest economies will finally reach an agreement on trade disputes cheered investors. Relations between Washington and Beijing have spiralled downward since trade talks collapsed in May.