Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices were in the positive zone during early hours on Wednesday led by a rally in global stock markets and after retail inflation data boosted chances of another interest rate cut.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up 101 points at 37,060 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 41 points to 10,967. At the National Stock Exchange, sectoral indices were mixed with Nifty pharma down by 3.2 percent. Nifty auto, FMCG and IT too were in the red.
Among stocks, Tata Steel gained by 3.4 percent to trade at Rs 360.65 per share. Hindalco and Vedanta too gained by 3.1 percent each. The other prominent gainers were GAIL, UPL, Hero MotoCorp, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, and IndusInd Bank.
But pharma stocks were on slippery ground with Dr. Reddy down by 5.8 percent, Sun Pharma by 5.7 percent and Cipla by 1.3 percent. Wipro, Coal India, Power Grid and ONGC also shed gains by over 1 percent.
Meanwhile, Asian indices opened in the green following a rally overnight in US markets where President Donald Trump extended the imposition of proposed trade tariffs on China. This saw oil prices rise sharply and energy stocks rallied along with short covering in financials.
The surge in US stocks lifted MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan by 0.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 0.6 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose by 0.5 percent.
South Korea’s KOSPI also advanced by 0.8 percent and Japan’s Nikkei rose by 0.6 percent.