Equity parameters in the green amid volatile trade, Bharti Infratel top gainer

Equity benchmark indices edged higher during early hours on Tuesday in line with their Asian peers as governments eased coronavirus lockdowns while oil prices gained on expectations of fuel demand going up.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 208 points or 0.65 per cent at 31,923 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 42 points or 0.45 per cent at 9,335.

Except for Nifty realty, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty auto up by 1.9 per cent, private bank by 1.7 per cent and metal by 1.6 per cent.

Among stocks, Bharti Infratel gained by 7.4 per cent to Rs 176.60 per share. Energy companies saw handsome gains with ONGC moving up by 5.9 per cent, Bharat Petroleum Corporation by 2.9 per cent, Power Grid Corporation by 2.2 per cent and NTPC by 2 per cent.

The other prominent gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, UPL and Tata Motors. However, those in the negative terrain included Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Britannia, Dr Reddy's and UltraTech Cements.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose tracking a late Wall Street rally as several governments eased coronavirus lockdowns and oil prices gains on expectations that fuel demand will pick up in coming weeks.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 0.56 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.66 per cent. Markets in China, Japan and South Korea were closed for a holiday.

The optimism about economic recovery from the coronavirus outbreak briefly outweighed the latest war of words between China and the United States over the origins of the pandemic that has shaken the global economy.

-ANI

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