Equity gauges flat despite positive Asian cues, HCL gains by 3 pc

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices were flat during early hours on Thursday despite Asian markets rising amid corporate earnings even as Brexit uncertainties kept a lid on gains.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 61 points at 39,120 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 12 points to 11,617. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty IT.
Among stocks, HCL Technologies rose by 2.9 per cent after posting Q2 FY20 net income at Rs 2,651 crore, up 19.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 4.4 per cent year-on-year. The other prominent gainers were Eicher Motors, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and Vedanta.
However, Bharat Petroleum Corporation dropped by 3.9 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 3.1 per cent and Bharti Infratel by 1.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, Asian shares surged ahead as corporate earnings and a ceasefire in northern Syria helped prop up the sentiment. But the backdrop of trade and Brexit uncertainties continued to linger.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan advanced by 0.4 per cent with Japan’s Nikkei rising by 0.66 per cent to a one-year high. South Korea’s Kospi eased by 0.1 per cent and Chinese shares were up with the blue-chip index rising by 0.37 per cent.