Indian benchmark indices erased early gains to trade lower on Friday afternoon as losses in banks, FMCG and auto stocks dragged Nifty near 12,150 levels.

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At 12:40 pm, the Sensex fell 90.58 points or 0.22 percent to 41,369.21 and the Nifty was trading 23.95 points or 0.20 percent lower at 12,150.70.

In a setback to telecom companies, the Supreme Court directed for contempt proceedings to be launched against telcos for violating the SC order. The Supreme Court slammed the Department of Telecommunications for not taking any action against the telecom companies, which failed to repay AGR dues as ordered by the top court.

Meanwhile, on the macro front, Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose to 3.1 percent in January as against 2.59 percent in the previous month. WPI came higher than the estimated 2.9 percent.

Among sectors, Nifty Bank led the losses followed by Nifty FMCG, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Auto while Nifty Pharma, Nifty Media, Nifty Realty and Nifty IT traded in the green.

Bharti Infratel, GAIL India, IndusInd Bank, Eicher Motors and PowerGrid Corporation of India were the Nifty50 top losers while Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, BPCL, UPl and Reliance Industries were the top gainers.

Telecom stocks were trading mixed after the Supreme Court slammed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for not taking any action against the telecom companies on failing to repay AGR dues as ordered by the top court. While Vodafone Idea lost over 18 percent in intraday deals to Rs 3.6 per share on the BSE, Bharti Airtel rose 4.5 percent to Rs 564.50 post the hearing. Vodafone Idea rose 15 percent ahead of the hearing on Friday, but later fell over 43 percent from the day's high of Rs 5.25.

Shares of Page Industries plunged almost 8 percent after it reported weak earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2020. The scrip fell 7.98 percent to touch intraday low of Rs 21,650 on the BSE. Net profit in the December quarter fell 14.6 percent to Rs 87 crore from Rs 102 crore, YoY. Profit missed CNBC-TV18 poll estimates of Rs 117 crore.

The stock price of YES Bank rallied 8 percent intraday as company received non-binding expressions of interest from several prominent investors. In its BSE regulatory filing, the company said, "The investors include J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC; Tilden Park Capital Management LP; OHA (UK) LLP (part of Oak Hill Advisors); Silver Point Capital." On an intraday, the share price surged 8.06 percent at Rs 40.20.

Globally, Asian shares inched higher on Friday, on course to post the second straight week of gains, helped by hopes governments will make provisions to soften the impact on their economies from the coronavirus epidemic.

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First Published:Feb 14, 2020 12:56 PM IST