Equity indices gain ahead of August derivative contracts expiry

Equity benchmark indices were in the positive terrain during early hours on Thursday ahead of the expiry of August series derivative contracts.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex up by 178 points or 0.46 per cent at 39,252 while the Nifty 50 gained by 46 points or 0.4 per cent at 11,596.

Except for Nifty auto, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty realty gaining by 3.2 per cent.

Most real estate stocks surged in opening trade after the Maharashtra government's move to cut stamp duty. Sunteck Realty jumped by 7.6 per cent, Oberoi Realty by 6.6 per cent and DLF by 2.2 per cent.

The other prominent gainers were IndusInd Bank which advanced by 3.7 per cent to Rs 588.55 per share while Axis bank ticked up by 1.3 per cent and ICICI Bank by 1.1 per cent.

HDFC, Tata Motors, Grasim, Cipla and Tech Mahindra too traded with a positive bias.

However, shares of Hindustan Aeronautics plunged by 12 per cent to Rs 1,035.50 per share after the company said that the government plans to sell its 15 per cent stake through a public offering of shares.

Auto stocks were also on slippery ground with Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors and Maruti Suzuki witnessing marginal losses.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were flat despite Wall Street's record run overnight as US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell prepared to outline a more flexible approach to the policy later during the day (local time).

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan turned flat after earlier reaching its highest since August 2018.

Japan's Nikkei eased by 0.4 per cent and South Korea fell by 0.8 per cent as a jump in coronavirus cases ended four days of rises. 

-ANI

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