Equity indices dip, banking stock under pressure

Equity benchmark indices were subdued during early hours on Friday on record single-day spike of over three lakh Covid-19 cases for second consecutive day. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 79 points or 0.16 per cent at 48,002 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 16 points or 0.11 per cent to 14,390. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty financial service dipping by 0.6 per cent, FMCG by 0.5 per cent and auto by 0.3 per cent. But Nifty PSU bank rose by 1.1 per cent and metal by 1 per cent. Among stocks, Hindustan Unilever dropped by 1.5 per cent to Rs 2,314.20 per share and Britannia by 0.9 per cent to Rs 3,717.