Equity indices surge 0.7 pc amid strong global cues

Equity benchmark indices ruled strong during early hours on Friday tracking positive global cues amid hopes of additional fiscal stimulus in the United States and optimism about an economic recovery.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 346 points or 0.72 per cent at 48,439 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 107 points or 0.76 per cent to 14,244.

Except for Nifty metal, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty realty gaining by 2.2 per cent, pharma and IT by 1.4 per cent each, and auto by 1.3 per cent.

Among stocks, agro-chemicals manufacturer UPL added gains of 4.5 per cent at Rs 504.35 per share while Bharat Petroleum Corporation moved up by 2.5 per cent to Rs 402.

Realty major DLF gained by 2.2 per cent to Rs 251.05. The other major gainers were Sun Pharma, Eicher Motors, SBI Life, Ad Ports and Tata Motors.

However, metal stocks fell with Hindalco losing by 1.5 per cent and Tata Steel by 0.7 per cent. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Titan and Bharti Airtel too traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian shares rose to record highs with Japan's Nikkei hitting a three-decade peak as investors looked beyond rising coronavirus cases and political unrest in the United States.

The upbeat mood came after Wall Street hit record highs a day earlier as markets bet a new Democratic-controlled government will lead to heavy spending and borrowing to support the US economic recovery.

The cheerful mood lifted MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 1 per cent, touching a record high. Seoul's Kospi led the way by moving up 2.8 per cent.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei added 1.73 per cent, hitting its highest level since August 1990. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 1.2 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )