Equity indices dither after weak opening, TCS flat after Q1 results

Equity benchmark indices suffered slight cuts during early hours on Friday following a decline in global peers amid surging coronavirus cases.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 36 points or 0.1 per cent at 36,702 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 8 points or 0.07 per cent at 10,806.

Nifty pharma was up by 1.5 per cent and auto by 0.8 per cent. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red.

Among stocks, private lenders IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank slipped by 1.7 and 1.1 per cent respectively while home loan lender HDFC was down by 1.4 per cent.

Bharti Infratel dipped by 2.6 per cent, Adani Ports by 2.2 per cent, Tech Mahindra by 1.8 per cent, JSW Steel by 1.4 per cent and Hindalco by 1.2 per cent.

Tata Consultancy Services was down by 0.5 per cent to Rs 2,193.05 per share after reporting nearly 14 per cent fall in its net profit at Rs 7,008 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year (Q1 FY21).

However, Sun Pharma gained by 2.9 per cent to Rs 496 per share, Dr Reddy's by 1.2 per cent and Cipla by 1.1 per cent. Hero MotoCorp and Tata Motors traded with a positive bias while index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up by 1.1 per cent at Rs 1,844.70 per share.

Meanwhile, Asian shares fell as record-breaking new coronavirus cases in several US states raised concerns that new lockdowns could derail an economic recovery.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 0.76 per cent while Japanese stocks declined by 0.4 per cent.

Shares in China fell by 0.72 per cent, the first decline in more than a week, as investors booked profits on a surge in equities to a five-year high. 

-ANI