Sensex cracks over 150 points; Nifty50 below 9,250; Adani Ports, Sun Pharma slip

NEW DELHI: Benchmark indices opened on a negative note on Thursday, tracking mixed cues from Asian markets ahead of Chinese Premier as Xi Jinping’s meet with US president Donald Trump. Reports that US has fired missiles at a Syrian air base after a chemical attack and its impact on crude prices which rallied over 2 per cent in early trade, too influenced the sentiment.

At 9.20 am, the BSE Sensex was trading 124 points, or 0.40 per cent, lower at 29,806.68. The index had hit a low of 29763.02 in early trade. The NSE dropped 39 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 9,223.30.

Sun Pharma dropped 2.46 per cent to Rs 669.60. Adani Ports, Power Grid and Coal India fell up to 0.74 per cent. On the flipside, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki added up to 2 per cent.

There were reports that the protectionist Trump and Jinping dine together on Thursday, ahead of key talks of bilateral security and, more importantly, trade issues. Oil prices, which fell on Thursday on record US investors, spiked 2 per cent in early trade after US warships fired 50-60 cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase in retaliation to chemical attack on civilians.

Meranwhile at home, Rajya Sabha has passed four GST legislations. This would pave the way for rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the target date of July 1.