Equity Indices open in red; Tata Motors surge with rise in sales

Equity Indices opened flat on Tuesday. BSE Sensex which opened marginally in red, at 0920 hours was trading at 26,524.03, down 71.42 points, or 0.27%. While, NSE Nifty was at 8,166.25, down 13.25 points, or 0.16%.

Sector-wise, banking sector was down 89.10 points, or 0.43%, after the private banks on Monday slashed MCLR rates. Consumer Durables sector was major gainer in early trades as it was trading 205.02 points up, or 1.80%. While, Auto sector was flat with 0.05 points up post the mixed sales number in the month of December.

On 30-share benchmark, among top gainers were Power Grid (1.20%), Tata Motors (0.90%), Dr Reddy's Lab (0.49%), Lupin (0.44%) and Asian Paint (0.43%). Among losers were Infosys (-1.55%), Hero MotoCorp (-1.28%), Wipro (-1.28%), HDFC (-1.01%) and Bajaj Auto (-0.90%).

The shares of State Bank of India were trading at Rs 241.90 per piece, down 0.70%, or Rs 1.70 on BSE, after the bank postponed the merger plans with five associates and Bhartiya Mahila Bank in the next fiscal.