Mumbai, Dec 17: Equities turned negative in early trade on Thursday after starting higher, with leading telecom Bharti Airtel easing 0.7 per cent.
At 9:59 a.m., the 30-share BSE index was down 0.25 per cent at 16,870.52 points, with 16 components declining.
Bharti had risen 2.8 per cent on Wednesday on news it plans to buy Bangladesh’s Warid Telecom for a reported $900 million from Abu Dhabi Group, indicating a shift in focus to smaller targets after its planned $24 billion merger with South Africa’s MTN failed.
The 50-share NSE index was down 0.28 per cent at 5,028.25 points.
–Agencies