Opening bell: Equity indices on firm ground, IT stocks gain

Equity benchmark indices traded firm during early hours on Monday with gains seen in Asian markets on hopes that US President Donald Trump could be discharged from hospital later in the day after responding well to COVID-19 treatment.

At 10:15 am, the BSE SandP Sensex was up by 424 points or 1.09 per cent at 39,121 while the Nifty 50 gained by 120 points or 1.06 per cent at 11,537.Except for Nifty auto, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty IT moving up by 3 per cent, private bank by 2.3 per cent and metal by 2.1 per cent.

Among stocks, Wipro jumped by 5.5 per cent to Rs 330.25 per share, Tata Consultancy Services by 4.2 per cent, Infosys by 3 per cent, HCL Technologies by 2.1 per cent and Tech Mahindra by 1.6 per cent.The other prominent gainers were Tata Steel, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

However, Mahindra and Mahindra, GAIL, ONGC, Asian Paints, Cipla and Bharti Airtel traded with a negative bias.