Mumbai (Maharashtra): Equity benchmark indices were in the positive zone during early hours on Monday backed by strong global cues as central banks readied for introducing more stimulus steps to help cushion the economic impact of coronavirus.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 675 points or 2.15 per cent at 32,002 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 188 points or 2.06 per cent at 9,343.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty auto up by 2 per cent, pharma by 1.9 per cent and financial service by 1.8 per cent.

Among stocks, index heavyweight Reliance Industries witnessed a gain of 2.93 per cent at Rs 1,458.55 per share. Private lenders IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were up by 4.7 per cent each while Cipla and Sun Pharma gained by 4 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively.

The other prominent winners were Bharti Airtel, Britannia, Maruti, Eicher Motors and JSW Steel.

However, Wipro, Bajaj Finance, NTPC and Asian Paints traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian shares bounced as the Bank of Japan announced more stimulus steps to help cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus. The US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank will meet later in the week.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 1.2 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei gained by 2.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng by 1.58 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi by 1.69 per cent. (ANI)