Equity indices gain after PM Modi announces Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus

Equity benchmark indices traded higher during early hours on Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an economic stimulus package worth Rs 20 lakh crore amounting to 10 per cent of the GDP to alleviate the pain caused by COVID-19.

In an evening address to the nation, the Prime Minister has also said that the countrywide lockdown will extend post-May 17 with new rules to allow more industrial and business activities.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S and P Sensex was up by 697 points or 2.22 per cent at 32,068 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 196 points or 2.13 per cent at 9,393.

Except for Nifty pharma, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive zone with Nifty private bank up by 3.5 per cent, financial service by 3.1 per cent and auto by 2.8 per cent.

Among stocks, private lenders gained the most with ICICI Bank advancing by 5.53 per cent to Rs 338.95 per share, HDFC Bank by 4.1 per cent and Axis Bank by 3.4 per cent.

Larsen and Toubro was up by 4.6 per cent, Mahindra and Mahindra by 4.1 per cent, Maruti by 3.5 per cent and Power Grid Corporation by 3.2 per cent.

However, those which lost were Nestle India, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, GAIL and Reliance Industries.

Meanwhile, Asian equities pulled back on heightened concerns of the second wave of coronavirus infections.

Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.46 per cent and South Korea's Kospi lowered by 0.1 per cent and the Shanghai Composite fell by 0.18 per cent.