Markets Swing Between Gains And Losses; Pharma, Financials Top Drags

Amid weak global cues, domestic equity markets swung between gains and losses on Friday as investors awaited the outcome of a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board meeting. At 12:15 am, the S&P BSE Sensex traded at 35,916.57, down 13.07 points or 0.04 per cent, and the Nifty50 barometer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was at 10,789.45, with a loss of 2.10 points or 0.02 per cent. Twenty two out of 50 Nifty stocks traded with losses.  HCL Tech (down 2.26 per cent), HDFC (down 1.65 per cent), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (down 1.58 per cent), Titan (down 1.17 per cent), and Maruti Suzuki (down 1.11 per cent) were the top five Nifty gainers.

Pharma and financial stocks led the losses.

The RBI board meeting - Shaktikanta Das' first as its governor - is likely to discuss governance issues, notably a push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration to have a bigger say in the central bank's regulatory decisions.

In the currency market, the rupee fell by 14 paise to 71.82 a dollar.

In global markets, Asian shares tumbled after China reported a set of weak data, fanning fresh worries of a sharp slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy and leaving investors fretting over the wider impact of a yet unresolved Sino-US trade dispute.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.4 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.1 per cent, reported news agency Reuters.

Oil prices gave up some of their Thursday's gains following inventory declines in the United States and expectations that the global oil market could have a deficit sooner than they had previously thought.

Both Brent crude and US light crude gained more than 2.5 per cent. US crude last traded at $52.40 per barrel, down 18 cents or 0.35 per cent.

On Thursday, the Sensex had closed at 35,929.64 and the Nifty50 at 10,791.55. (With agency inputs)