Equity indices up amid positive global cues, banking stocks gain

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 12 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices gained during early hours on Friday tracking positive cues from their Asian peers with banking and metal stocks leading the rally.
Asian markets rallied after US President Joe Biden signed the 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus bill into law, leading Dow Jones to scale fresh new all-time highs.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 414 points or 0.81 per cent at 51,694 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 114 points or 0.75 per cent to 15,288. But Nifty pharma fell by 0.5 per cent and FMCG by 0.4 per cent.
Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain with Nifty metal up by 1.6 per cent, PSU bank by 1.1 per cent and private bank by 1 per cent.
Among stocks, IDBI Bank surged by 12 per cent to Rs 43.10 after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) removed it from the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework on improving finances and credit profile.
Metal major JSW Steel was up by 3.1 per cent while Tata Steel gained by 2.1 per cent. Mahindra & Mahindra rose marginally after it got a green signal from the RBI to reduce its ownership in South Korean automaker SsangYong Motor.
Energy majors and banking scrips advanced with Bharat Petroleum Corporation up by 3.3 per cent, IndianOil Corporation by 3 per cent, HDFC Bank by 1.4 per cent and ICICI Bank by 1.3 per cent.
However, SBI Life and HDFC Life dropped by 2.46 per cent and 1.3 per cent. Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Hindustan Lever and Britannia too traded with a negative bias on profit booking.
Meanwhile, Asian shares pushed higher after US President Joe Biden signed a 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus bill into law and as a retreat in bond yields overnight eased global concerns about rising inflation.
MSCI's broadest gauge index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan gained by 0.45 per cent supported by tech gains.
Seoul's Kospi added 1.12 per cent while Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.99 per cent. (ANI)