Equity indices dip as traders book profit

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 15 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices were in the negative zone during early hours on Friday amid broad-based selling as traders booked profit.

At 10:15 am, the BSE SP Sensex was down by 228 points or 0.46 per cent at 49,356 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 67 points or 0.46 per cent to 14,528.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty pharma dipping by 1.2 per cent, auto by 0.8 per cent, IT by 0.7 per cent and FMCG by 0.6 per cent.

Among stocks, Hero MotoCorp dropped by 2.4 per cent to Rs 3,187.50 per share while Asian Paints cracked by 1.7 per cent. The other prominent losers were Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank and Britannia.

However, Bharti Airtel gained by 3.2 per cent to Rs 599.60 per share. Tata Steel, JSW Steel, State Bank of India and HDFC Life also traded with a positive bias.

Meanwhile, Asian shares edged up near record highs after US President-elect Joe Biden proposed a 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus plan to jump-start the world's largest economy and accelerate its response to Covid-19.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.1 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.32 per cent but Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.21 per cent after touching three-decade highs in the previous session. (ANI)