Sensex, Nifty Trim Gains; Autos Witness Buying, Bank Stocks Weak

Edited by Peter Noronha

19 May 2020, 02:02 PM IST

Bharti Airtel was trading higher by 9 per cent at Rs 587 on the NSE.

The benchmark indices trimmed their gains in noon trading due to some profit-booking at higher levels, after the 2 per cent gains witnessed in the morning session. At 1:40 pm, the Sensex traded 225.12 points - or 0.79 per cent - higher at 30,267.10 while the Nifty was up 77.45 points - or 0.84 per cent - at 8,898.45. Losses in select banking stocks capped the gains in auto names.

Domestic stock markets had risen more than 2 per cent on Tuesday following three days of losses, amid gains in Asian peers. The S&P BSE Sensex index had soared as much as 2.25 per cent - or 675.72 points - to 30,704.70 in morning deals, having started the day up 421.76 points at 30,450.74. The broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark climbed to as high as 9,020.75, after opening at 8,961.70 compared to its previous close of 8,823.25.

Thirty eight stocks in the Nifty basket of 50 shares were trading higher. The top percentage gainers on the Nifty were Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Adani Ports, Bharti Infratel and Grasim, trading between 3.57 per cent and 9 per cent higher.

Auto stocks were in the limelight this afternoon. The NSE auto index strengthened 1.6 per cent, with Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto gaining 1.2-3.9 per cent each.

Bharti Airtel was trading higher by 9 per cent at Rs 587, after soaring as much as 10 per cent in the morning to touch the Rs 594.65 on the NSE, a day after the private sector telecom major reported its earnings for the quarter ended March 31.

On the other hand, select banking stocks witnessed profit-booking. SBI, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda were trading lower by up to 4 per cent each, on the NSE.

Meanwhile, the rupee strengthened by as much as 30 paise - or 0.40 per cent - to 75.61 against the US dollar on Tuesday due to gains in domestic equity markets and weakness in the dollar.

On the Covid-19 front, the US-based drug maker Moderna Inc said its experimental COVID-19 vaccine showed promising results in a small early-stage trial. This comes as a ray of hope, given the fact that the coronavirus cases in the country crossed the psychological 1 lakh mark, as per the figures released by the Ministry of Health.