Equities spurt on value buying, metal stocks gain

Equity benchmark indices gained substantially around noon on Tuesday as investors went on a buying spree amid positive cues from Asian markets.

At 12 noon, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 756 points or 1.9 per cent to 40,628 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 227 points at 11,935.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty metal up by 2.9 per cent, financial service by 2.6 per cent, private bank by 2.2 per cent and PSU bank by 1.9 per cent.

Among stocks, metal majors Hindalco and Tata Steel gained by 3.8 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively while Hero MotoCorp was up by 3.6 per cent. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank ticked up by 3.5 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively.

 

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries soared by 3.1 per cent at Rs 1,429.10 per share after announcing that its joint venture with British multinational oil and gas company BP Plc has completed the safe cessation of production in a planned manner from the D1 D3 field in block KG D6 off the east coast of India.

The other prominent gainers were Bajaj Finserv, ITC, IndianOil Corporation and Bharti Infratel.

However, Yes Bank dipped by 3.25 per cent to Rs 34.85 per share. The other prominent losers included Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, Bharti Airtel and Hindustan Lever.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks bounced, although market sentiment remained fragile, with Chinese officials making efforts to calm coronavirus fears. China's central bank has flooded the economy with cash while trimming some key lending rates.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 1 per cent, led by gains in South Korea and Australia. Japan's Nikkei inched up by 0.1 per cent.

On Monday, China's markets witnessed an erosion of about 400 billion dollars in market value from Shanghai's benchmark index following anxiety over the spreading coronavirus.