Equities trade higher, Tata Steel top gainer

Equity benchmark indices showed resilience and traded higher during early hours on Friday fuelled by an expectation that the second Covid-19 wave will peak this month and the economy will rebound quickly.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 405 points or 0.83 per cent at 49,354 while the Nifty 50 ticked higher by 117 points or 0.8 per cent to 14,842.

Except for Nifty auto, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive zone with Nifty metal up by 2.5 per cent, pharma by 1.1 per cent and realty by 1.4 per cent.

Among stocks, Tata Steel moved up by 3.3 per cent to Rs 1,137.10 per share. JSW Steel was up by 2.3 per cent and Hindalco by 1.1 per cent.

IndusInd Bank rose by 2 per cent, HDFC Bank by 1.4 per cent, SBI Life by 1.8 per cent and Sun Pharma by 1.2 per cent.

However, those which lost were Tata Consumer Products, Hero MotorCorp, Bajaj Auto and Eicher Motors.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks were on a surge while traders braced for a key US jobs report later during the day that could provide clues on when the Federal Reserve will ease back on monetary stimulus.

Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.13 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index moved higher by 0.51 per cent. South Korea's Kospi advanced by 0.56 per cent.

(ANI)

Also Read: PM Modi only did his 'Mann ki Baat', claims Jharkhand CM after telephonic conversation