Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices fluctuated between gains and losses on Thursday ahead of the expiry of December series futures and options (F&O) contracts.
At 12:10 pm, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 98 points to 41,363 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 27 points at 12,187.
Except for Nifty metal and auto, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red. Nifty PSU bank dropped by 0.75 percent but Nifty metal rose by 1.07 percent.
Metal majors had a good time with Vedanta moving up by 2.8 percent at Rs 152.20 per share. JSW Steel rose by 1.8 percent and Tata Steel by 1.5 percent.
Auto companies Mahindra & Mahindra and Eicher Motors jumped by 1.1 percent and 1.05 percent respectively while Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv rose by 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent. IT giants HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra showed marginal gains.
However, IndianOil Corporation lost by 1.5 percent to Rs 125.40 per share. Yes Bank was down by 1.2 percent after a rating downgrade by Brickwork. Coal India, Bharti Airtel, and Larsen & Toubro edged lower by 1 percent each.