New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices advanced during early hours on Thursday ahead of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) meeting to decide on key interest rates. While several market experts expect the status quo in benchmark rates, some hoped for a cut.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 100 points to 41,243 while the Nifty 50 gained 34 points at 12,123. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive zone with Nifty metal up by 1.3 per cent and pharma by 1.2 per cent.

Among stocks, metal major Vedanta gained by 2.3 per cent at Rs 146.45 per share while Tata Steel moved up by 1.7 per cent and JSW Steel by 1.2 per cent. Yes Bank added gains of 3.4 per cent to trade at Rs 38.90 apiece.

The other prominent gainers were IT majors HCL Technologies, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services besides IndianOil Corporation, Adani Ports and Hero MotoCorp.

However, Tata Motors fell by 1.6 per cent. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Infratel, NTPC and Infosys too traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks edged up following record closes in Wall Street benchmarks after encouraging economic data, although investors kept an eye on developments in the coronavirus outbreak.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan gained by 1.14 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei rose by 2.07 per cent. (ANI)