Indices erase gains; Sensex turns negative, Nifty below 8,800

Mumbai: The Indian equity benchmark indices erased all intraday gains and turned flat on Wednesday afternoon as selling at higher levels pressurized markets.

At 1 pm, the benchmarks, Sensex traded 9.98 points or 0.03 percent lower at 30,057.23 and the Nifty traded 13.70 points or 0.16 percent lower at 8,778.50.

Buying in pharma, auto and FMCG stocks was countered by sell-off in IT, realty and private banks.

TCS, Titan Company, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Aitel and Grasim Industries led the losses among Nifty constituents while Bharti Infratel, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Cipla, GAIL India and HCL Technologies were the top gainers.

Equity benchmark Sensex dropped over 400 points in opening trade on Wednesday tracking losses in index heavyweights HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank amid weak cues from global markets.

After hitting a low of 29,602.94, the 30-share BSE barometer pared most losses to trade 14.98 points or 0.05 per cent lower at 30,052.23.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty was quoting 9.50 points, or 0.11 per cent, down at 8,782.70.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in the capital market, as they bought equity shares worth Rs 741.77 crore on Tuesday, according to provisional exchange data.

Indian markets, in sync with global benchmarks, turned negative as worries over the economic impact of the pandemic continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, investors are awaiting an ease in lockdown procedures, so companies can get down to generating business. In a holiday shortened week, any news regarding peaking infections will be bought into.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Seoul were in the red, while those in Tokyo were trading on a positive note.

Benchmark exchanges on Wall Street ended lower in overnight trade.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 2.26 per cent to USD 32.59 per barrel.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India has crossed 5,000.

Global tally of the infections has crossed 14 lakh, with over 82,000 deaths.