2 Minutes by Reuters Staff Read On December 11, 2018, a broker reacts while trading at his computer station at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai, India. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas (Reuters) – BENGALURU (Reuters) – On Thursday, Indian markets opened the month of July virtually flat, as advances in automotive stocks were offset by losses in heavyweight information technology firms. By 0408 GMT, the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index had risen 0.08 percent to 15,734.45 points, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex had up 0.01 percent to 52,486.29. Both indices increased by around 1% in June, thanks to a drop in COVID-19 cases, the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions, and a rise in immunizations. Zydus Cadila, an Indian pharmaceutical company, announced on Thursday that it has appealed to the country’s drug regulator for emergency use permission of its COVID-19 vaccine, which in an interim analysis revealed a 66.6 percent efficacy against positive instances. As firms reported their June sales figures, automaker stocks were in the spotlight. The Nifty Automotive index increased by 1.3 percent. After reporting better June sales than a year ago, Bajaj Auto rose 2.1 percent. Mahindra and Mahindra was up 1.9 percent ahead of their earnings announcement. The top two percentage gainers on the Nifty 50 were both these equities. After gaining 0.56 percent on Wednesday, the Nifty IT index dipped 0.56 percent. Vodafone Idea’s stock dropped 6.5 percent as the company’s March-quarter loss worsened and sales decreased compared to the previous quarter. Concerns over additional coronavirus outbreaks and new lockdowns weighed heavily on Asia’s broader markets. Anuron Kumar Mitra contributed reporting from Bengaluru, and Uttaresh.V. edited the piece./n
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