Sensex, Nifty Struggle In Early Trade; SBI Shares Continue Surge

NDTV Profit Team

23 May 2018, 09:39 AM IST

Thirty two stocks on the 50-scrip index Nifty were trading in the negative zone

The stock markets started Wednesday's session on a weak note, with the BSE Sensex shedding 35 points. National Stock Exchange (NSE) benchmark index Nifty fell 19 points to 10,516 in early morning deals. Losses were led by metal stocks, with the Nifty Metal - the NSE's sub-index of metal stocks - trading 1.4 per cent lower. State Bank of India (SBI) shares rose 5 per cent to lead the pack of banking stocks, which curbed the downside in the indices.

With that, SBI extended gains of Tuesday, the day it reported a loss of Rs. 7,718 crore ($1.1 billion) - its biggest ever - for the January-March quarter. The country's biggest lender set aside more provisions for bad loans after a change in banking regulation. SBI had said on that it expected a key bad loan metric to fall sharply in two years. SBI shares had closed 3.5 per cent on Tuesday. (Read: For SBI, "Worst Could Be Finally Over")

Thirty two stocks on the 50-scrip index Nifty were trading in the negative zone. Top laggards on the index were metal stocks Vedanta, Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries - trading between 2.1 per cent and 3.4 per cent lower. Other Nifty 50 losers included Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Bharat Petroleum, down 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.

Shares in other Asian markets edged up. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.15 per cent while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.2 per cent. However, investors were cautious after US President Donald Trump tempered optimism over progress made so far in trade talks between the world's two largest economies.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 shed 0.31 per cent, losing steam after hitting a two-month high.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was not pleased with recent trade talks between the United States and China, souring the improved market sentiment following weekend comments from US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that trade war is "on hold". His remarks followed Beijing's announcement that it would cut import tariffs for automobiles and car parts.

(With agency inputs)