Equities begin first trading session of year 2021 with positive note

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Equity benchmark indices began the first trading session of year 2021 on a positive note with the possibility of touching new heights.

The stocks have surged since November on record inflows from foreign institutional investors, progress on Covid-19 vaccines globally and signs of a nascent economic recovery in the country.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 148 points or 0.31 per cent at 47,899 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 39 points or 0.28 per cent to 14,020.

Except for Nifty pharma, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green zone with Nifty PSU bank moving up by 1.6 per cent, auto and IT by 0.5 per cent, and FMCG by 0.3 per cent.

Among stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra gained by 2.1 per cent to Rs 736.05 per share while Tata Motors was up by 0.6 per cent to Rs 184.95.

The others which gained marginally were UPL, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Britannia and Larsen & Toubro.

However, those in the negative terrain were Sun Pharma, Hindalco, SBI Life, Titan, GAIL, NTPC and Power Grid Corporation.

Meanwhile, US markets ended higher a day earlier after the release of better-than-expected macroeconomic data and optimism on the Covid-19 vaccine front.