Global cues depress equity indices; oil and gas stocks slump

Mumbai: Broadly negative global cues pulled the key Indian equity indices lower on Wednesday afternoon.

According to analysts, benchmark Asian markets fell due to the ongoing trade war concerns and a rise in crude oil prices.

On the domestic indices, heavy selling pressure was witnessed in oil and gas, banking and capital goods stocks, they said.

At 1 p.m., the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded at 10,714.70 points, down 54.45 points or 0.51 per cent from the previous close of 10,769.15 points.

Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had opened at 35,543.89 points, traded at 35,333.34 points (1 p.m.) — down 156.70 points or 0.44 per cent — from its previous session’s close of 35,490.04 points.

The Sensex has so far touched an intra-day high of 35,618.85 and a low of 35,335.55 points. The BSE market breadth was bearish so far with 2,007 declines and 467 advances.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Infosys and HDFC whereas ICICI Bank, Power Grid, NTPC, Tata Motors (DVR) and Larsen and Toubro were the major losers.

On the NSE, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Infratel and Hindustan Unilever were the highest gainers while Hindustan Petroleum, BPCL and Indian Oil Corp lost the most.

IANS