Indian shares were trading flat on Thursday amid caution ahead of March-quarter earnings and as the first phase of 2019 Lok Sabha elections begins. IT majors TCS and Infosys will report their Q4 numbers tomorrow. Negative sentiment in Asian peers also affected the domestic indices.

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Asian stocks slipped from near eight-month highs as European and US central banks reinforced investor worries about the global economic outlook and trade protectionism.

At 2:33 PM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 38,573, down 12 points, while the broader NSE Nifty50 was ruling at 11,592, slipping 7 points. The Nifty Midcap was trading flat, while the Nifty Smallcap index outperformed, up 0.4 percent.

Adani Ports, BPCL, HUL, Vedanta, and Britannia gained the most on Nifty, while Bharti Airtel, UPL, Eicher Motors, Grasim and JSW Steel fell the most on the index.

A mixed trade was seen in the sectoral indices with Nifty Auto, and Nifty FMCG gaining while, Nifty Metal, Nifty IT and Nifty Bank slipping in the afternoon deals.

Globally, in a fresh escalation of trade tensions, US President Donald Trump has threatened new tariffs on goods from the European Union even as the Sino-US trade dispute remains unresolved.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.3 percent after four straight days of gains took it to the highest since last August. Chinese shares were subdued with the blue-chip CSI300 off 1 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tumbled 0.6 percent.

Australian shares also lost ground, pressured by political uncertainty after the country’s prime minister called a national election for May 18. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.3 percent as the yen strengthened.

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First Published:Apr 11, 2019 10:01 AM IST