Opening bell: Equity indices trade with positive bias, IT stocks gain

Equity benchmark indices traded in the green with thin margins during early hours on March 16 in line with positive cues from global markets.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S-P Sensex was up by 214 points or 0.42 per cent at 50,609 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 41 points or 0.28 per cent to 14,972.

Except for Nifty IT and FMCG which rose by less than 1 per cent, all other sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty metal down by 1.5 per cent, PSU bank by 1.6 per cent and realty by 0.5 per cent.

Among stocks, Asian Paints surged by 2.9 per cent to Rs 2,423.50 per share while agro-chemicals major UPL was up by 2 per cent.

IT majors Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies gained by over 1 per cent in early session.