Mumbai: After five days of losing streak, equity benchmark indices were in the positive zone during early hours on Thursday ahead of the July futures and options (F&O) expiry.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up 225 points at 38,073 while the Nifty 50 gained 64 points to 11,335.
At the National Stock Exchange, all sectoral indices were in the green with Nifty pharma showing gains of 1.93 per cent and financial services by over 1 per cent.
Among stocks, Bharti Infratel edged higher by 4.3 per cent and traded at Rs 275.50 per share. Pharma major Cipla was up by 3.7 per cent, IndusInd Bank by 2.5 per cent, Indiabulls Housing Finance by 1.7 per cent and Dr Reddy by 1.5 per cent.
However, Tata Motors shed over 2 per cent while oil refining and marketing companies Bharat Petroleum as well as Indian Oil lost over 1 per cent. Coal India and Kotak Mahindra Bank too were in the red.
Meanwhile, Asian shares shrugged off a tech-fueled rally on Wall Street a day earlier and saw muted trading on Thursday amid a mixed picture for corporate earnings.
Benchmark indexes nudged higher in Japan, Hong Kong and China but declined in South Korea. Investors have generally been encouraged in recent days by hopes of some headway in trade negotiations between the United States and China.
There are also expectations that the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve will ease monetary policy soon.