Equity indices on upward trajectory, metal stocks shine

Equity benchmark indices traded higher by 0.8 per cent during early hours on Wednesday with metal stocks witnessing smart gains amid mixed global trends.

At 10:15 am, the BSE SandP Sensex was up by 390 points or 0.78 per cent at 50,687 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 125 points or 0.84 per cent to 15,044.Except for Nifty auto which slid slightly, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive zone with Nifty metal up by 3.2 per cent, PSU bank by 1.7 per cent and realty by 1.2 per cent.

Among stocks, Tata Steel rose by 5.5 per cent to Rs 775.80 per share while JSW Steel and Hindalco moved up by 4.1 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.

The other prominent gainers were Adani Ports, Tata Motors, HDFC, State Bank of India, SBI Life, Axis Bank and UltraTech Cement.However, auto stocks skidded with Hero MotoCorp down by 1.5 per cent to Res 3,423.60 per share.

Bajaj Auto slipped by 1.4 per cent, Maruti Suzuki by 1.3 per cent, Mahindra and Mahindra by 0.6 per cent and Eicher Motors by 0.1 per cent.

Ircon International was down by 5.8 per cent as the offer for sale opened for up to 16 per cent government stake at a floor price of Rs 88 per share in the railway PSU.

Meanwhile, Asian shares edged higher as investors shrugged off concerns that stocks may have rallied too far too fast in the past year.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.44 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei stock index rose only 0.03 per cent and shares in China gained by 0.63 per cent.