Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices were in the red during early hours on Thursday on the back of mixed global cues and selling pressure across various segments.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 268 points at 36,295 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 77 points to 10,764.
At the National Stock Exchange, all sectoral indices except for Nifty FMCG were in the negative zone. Nifty PSU bank slipped by 1.7 percent while the private bank was down by 1.2 percent, metal by 1.4 percent and pharma by 1.2 percent
Among stocks, Yes Bank lost by 5.4 percent to Rs 60.60 per share while ICICI Bank was down by 2.7 percent, IndusInd Bank by 2.5 percent and State Bank of India by 1.8 percent.
Tata Steel and JSW Steel were down by 2.4 percent and 2.2 percent respectively. Zee Entertainment, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies also lost between 1.7 percent and 2.8 percent each.
However, those which showed some gains were FMCG majors Britannia and Hindustan Lever, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and Asian Paints.
Meanwhile, Asian shares turned lower after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points. It was the second Fed rate cut this year.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 0.36 percent. Hong Kong shares shed by 0.96 percent but Japan’s Nikkei rose by 1.01 percent.
Central banks around the world have been loosening policy to counter the risks of low inflation and recession. Easier monetary policy generally supports equities.