Equity indices trade firm, auto stocks surge

Equity benchmark indices traded firm during early hours on March 01 on the back upbeat global sentiment and India getting technically out of recession with Q3 GDP data showing 0.4 per cent growth.

At 10:15 am, the BSE SandP Sensex was up by 735 points or 1.5 per cent at 49,806 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 210 points or 1.45 per cent to 14,739.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty auto up by 2.2 per cent, financial service by 2 per cent, private bank by 1.8 per cent and IT by 1.5 per cent.

Among stocks, Hero MotoCorp surged by 3.7 per cent to Rs 3,334.40 per share and Mahindra and Mahindra by 3.5 per cent to Rs 835.30.