Equity indices gain on positive global cues, pharma and auto stocks up

Equity benchmark indices gained about half a per cent during early hours on Tuesday amid positive global cues with pharma and auto stocks gaining ground.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 276 points or 0.56 per cent at 49,435 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 98 points or 0.67 per cent to 14,736.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green zone with Nifty metal and pharma up by 1.2 per cent each, auto by 0.9 per cent and realty by 0.8 per cent.

Among stocks, JSW Steel was up by 3 per cent to Rs 533 per share. Auto majors Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors gained by 2 per cent each while pharma giants Cipla, Dr Reddy's and Sun Pharma ticked up by 1.5 per cent.

Asian Paints, Power Grid Corporation, Bajaj Finance and SBI Life too traded with a positive bias. However, those which lost were Titan, Grasim, HCL Technologies and Britannia.

Meanwhile, Asia's stock markets were mixed despite another batch of strong US economic data bolstered the global outlook.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan advanced by 0.4 per cent to a two-week high while Tokyo's Nikkei was down by 1.22 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )