Equity indices fall, Maruti top loser as Nifty auto skids 2.8 pc

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Equity benchmark indices traded lower during early hours on Tuesday tracking weakness in Asian markets as investors became anxious about the second wave of coronavirus infections in China.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 561 points or 1.78 per cent at 31,000 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 169 points or 1.83 per cent at 9,070.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative zone with Nifty auto down by 2.8 per cent, private bank by 2.5 per cent, PSU bank by 2.4 per cent and metal by 1.9 per cent.

Among stocks, shares of the country’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki tumbled by 4.4 per cent to Rs 4,718.95 per unit. Eicher Motors and Hero MotoCorp skidded by 2.9 per cent each.

Metal majors Tata Steel lost by 3.7 per cent and JSW Steel by 3.4 per cent while home finance major HDFC dropped by 3.9 per cent and private sector lender HDFC Bank by 3.3 per cent.

However, those which gained were UPL, Vedanta, NTPC and Titan.

Meanwhile, Asian shares retreated on growing worries about a second wave of coronavirus infections after the Chinese city Wuhan where the pandemic originated reported five new cases since its lockdown was lifted.

That cast doubts over efforts to lower COVID-19 related restrictions across the country as businesses restart and individuals went back to work.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of Japan stumbled more than 1 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was among the hardest hit, down 1.4 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi faltered by 0.9 per cent. (ANI)