Mumbai (Maharashtra): Equity benchmark indices gained during early hours on Tuesday in volatile trading with pharma stocks leading the rally.

Investors said the positive uptick is a result of some inflows through foreign portfolio investments besides and a generally optimistic mood emanating due to reversal of the COVID-19 lockdown.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 321 points or 0.93 per cent at 34,691 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 91 points or 0.89 per cent at 10,258.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty pharma up by 2.5 per cent, FMCG by 1.2 per cent and metal by 1 per cent.

Among stocks, Dr Reddy’s gained by 4 per cent to Rs 4,125.20 per share while Sun Pharma moved up by 3.6 per cent and Cipla by 2.9 per cent.

Private lenders Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank gained by 1.4 per cent each. Metal major Hindalco and Tata Steel were up by 1.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.

However, Titan lost by 2.6 per cent despite the company reporting 21 per cent year-on-year growth in Q4 net profit at Rs 357 crore due to strong operating performance and low base in the year-ago period.

GAIL, Maruti Suzuki, Wipro, HDFC Bank and Bajaj Finserv too traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks rallied for their ninth straight day and oil prices jumped as the lifting of coronavirus lockdowns in many countries fuelled investor hopes of a relatively quick global economic recovery.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of Japan rose for a ninth straight session for its longest winning streak since early 2018. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 1.2 per cent but Japan’s Nikkei bucked the trend to be down 0.5 per cent. (ANI)