Equity indices on upswing, HDFC Bank gains 4 pc post Q1 results

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Equity benchmark indices were up by nearly 1 per cent during early hours on Monday following handsome gains by private banks.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 376 points or 1.02 per cent at 37,396 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 107 points or 0.99 per cent at 11,009.

Except for Nifty pharma which slipped by 1.25 per cent and FMCG which was down by 0.2 per cent, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain with Nifty private bank and financial service up by 2.2 per cent, PSU bank by 1.9 per cent and IT by 1.2 per cent.

Among stocks, HDFC Bank surged by 4.07 per cent to Rs 1,143.20 per share after the private sector lender reported nearly 20 per cent jump in its Q1 net profit at Rs 6,659 crore.

ICICI Bank was up by 3.2 per cent, IndusInd Bank by 2.3 per cent and State Bank of India by 2.2 per cent. The other prominent gainers were Britannia, HCL Technologies, Infosys and Grasim.

However, Sun Pharma dipped by 3.5 per cent to Rs 486 per share while Cipla was down by 1.7 per cent. Tata Motors, Titan, Nestle India, Hindustan Lever and Maruti Suzuki too traded with negative bias but with thin margins.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were downbeat as a spike in global coronavirus cases hung over markets. Investors awaiting efforts at the outcome of a European Union summit to put together fiscal stimulus plans to fight the pandemic.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan slipped by 0.2 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei faltered by 0.35 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index by 0.4 per cent. (ANI)