Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices traded lower during early hours on Thursday as a record single-day spike of over three lakh Covid-19 cases weighed on investor sentiment. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 211 points or 0.44 per cent at 47,495 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 52 points or 0.37 per cent to 14,244. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty private bank dipping by 1.1 per cent, FMCG by 0.9 per cent and auto by 0.7 per cent. But Nifty metal rose by 1.8 per cent and pharma by 1 per cent. Among stocks, IndusInd bank dropped by 3.1 per cent to Rs 818.35 per share and Axis Bank by 1.6 per cent to Rs 641.55. Asian Paints slipped by 2.4 per cent, Hindustan Lever by 2.3 per cent, Nestle India by 1.4 per cent and HDFC Life by 1.4 per cent. However, Tata Steel rose by 4 per cent to Rs 929.65 per share while JSW Steel was up by 1.9 per cent. The other prominent gainers included Wipro, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's and Cipla. Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose after a rebound in global markets following a sharp selloff earlier this week. Japan led gains with the Nikkei 225 rallying 1.7 per cent after sliding 2 per cent in each of the last two sessions. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 per cent following a 0.9 per cent decline the previous day. (ANI)
