Equity indices gain with buying in FMCG, pharma stocks

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Equity benchmark indices traded higher during early hours on Wednesday as buying was witnessed in FMCG, pharma and financial stocks.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 265 points or 0.88 per cent at 30,461 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 10 points or 0.11 per cent at 8,889.

Except for Nifty IT, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive zone with Nifty FMCG up by 1.7 per cent, financial service by 1.4 per cent and pharma by 1.2 per cent.

Among stocks, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hit 5 per cent upper circuit at Rs 1,334 per share after the Indian Railways decided to double the number of Shramik special trains to 400 a day by this week and start 200 new time-tabled trains from June 1.

Larsen & Toubro moved up by 3.4 per cent to Rs 823.45 per unit while UPL reversed some of its yesterday’s losses to gain by 3.1 per cent.

Bajaj Finance rose by 2.7 per cent after the company reported a profit after tax of Rs 948 crore for the quarter ended March, marking a 19.4 per cent decline year-on-year on higher provisioning to offset Covid-19 impact.

The other prominent gainers were Cipla, Tata Steel, ITC, GAIL and Reliance Industries. However, Bharti Infratel, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Ports, Vedanta and Infosys traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian markets traded mixed as diplomatic tensions between Australia and China escalated and new economic indicators pointed to more signs of recession.

Sceptical report dented some hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine and concerns about a quick global recovery from the pandemic returned.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was flat as Chinese stocks began the day a little lower and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped by 0.1 per cent. A soft yen helped Japan’s Nikkei to move up by 0.7 per cent. (ANI)