Equity indices gain on global sentiment, FMCG and auto stocks up

Equity benchmark indices edged higher during early hours on Wednesday on the back of gains in FMCG and auto stocks supported by positive global sentiment.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex moved higher by 229 points or 0.65 per cent at 35,659 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 64 points or 0.61 per cent at 10,535.

Except for private bank, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain with Nifty FMCG up by 1.7 per cent, PSU bank by 1.5 per cent, metal and auto by 1.2 per cent each.

Among stocks, Asian Paints added gains of 4.3 per cent to trade at Rs 1,757 per share. FMCG major ITC was up by 3.8 per cent and Titan by 2.5 per cent.

Auto majors Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto accelerated by 3.6 per cent, 5.8 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively. Larsen & Toubro, Grasim and Mahindra & Mahindra too traded with a positive bias.

Meanwhile, Asian shares advanced to a four-month high as investors remained upbeat on the outlook for re-opening of the global economy even as cases of coronavirus accelerated to new peaks.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.39 per cent to reach its highest since early March.

Japan's Nikkei firmed by 0.1 per cent and Chinese blue chips CSI300 by 0.3 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )