New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices edged higher during early hours on Thursday while investors globally remained anxious about the spread of a new flu-like virus in China.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 187 points to 41,303 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 58 points at 12,165. Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain with Nifty realty climbing up by 1.3 per cent and PSU bank by 0.8 per cent.

Among stocks, IndianOil Corporation advanced by 3.74 per cent at Rs 117.90 while engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) moved up by 2.5 per cent at Rs 1,326.45 per share.

A day earlier, L&T had posted 15 per cent rise in year-on-year net profit at Rs 2,352 crore for the October to December quarter on large value order wins in power transmission, metallurgical and material handling business.

Private sector lender Axis Bank too gained by 2.5 per cent after reporting 15 per cent spurt in net interest income to Rs 6,453 crore in Q3 FY20. IT major Infosys ticked up by 1.27 per cent and Bharat Petroleum Corporation by 0.8 per cent.

However, Zee Entertainment dropped by 4 per cent. Bharti Infratel, Power Grid Corporation, Cipla and Asian Paints witnessed marginal losses.

Meanwhile, Asian shares fell as investors remained anxious about the spread of a new flu-like virus in China just as millions prepared to travel for the Lunar New Year. Deaths in China from the new coronavirus rose to 17 on Wednesday with nearly 600 cases confirmed.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 0.45 per cent. Blue-chip Chinese shares slumped by 0.91 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei stock index slid by 0.6 per cent. (ANI)