Equity indices on upward trajectory, metal stocks shine
Mumbai, Maharashtra: Equity benchmark indices traded higher by 0.8 percent during early hours on Wednesday with metal stocks witnessing smart gains amid mixed global trends.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 390 points or 0.78 percent at 50,687 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 125 points or 0.84 percent to 15,044.
Except for Nifty auto which slid slightly, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive zone with Nifty metal up by 3.2 percent, PSU bank by 1.7 percent, and realty by 1.2 percent.
Among stocks, Tata Steel rose by 5.5 percent to Rs 775.80 per share while JSW Steel and Hindalco moved up by 4.1 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.
The other prominent gainers were Adani Ports, Tata Motors, HDFC, State Bank of India, SBI Life, Axis Bank, and UltraTech Cement.
However, auto stocks skidded with Hero MotoCorp down by 1.5 percent to Res 3,423.60 per share. Bajaj Auto slipped by 1.4 percent, Maruti Suzuki by 1.3 percent, Mahindra & Mahindra by 0.6 percent, and Eicher Motors by 0.1 percent.
Ircon International was down by 5.8 percent as the offer for sale opened for up to 16 percent government stake at a floor price of Rs 88 per share in the railway PSU. Meanwhile, Asian shares edged higher as investors shrugged off concerns that stocks may have rallied too far too fast in the past year.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.44 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock index rose only 0.03 percent and shares in China gained by 0.63 percent.
