Equity benchmark indices trade higher amid favourable global cues

Equity benchmark indices traded over half a per cent higher during early hours on Monday amid favourable global cues.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 296 points or 0.56 per cent at 52,781 and the Nifty 50 ticked higher by 82 points or 0.52 per cent to 15,804.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain with Nifty realty gaining by 1.6 per cent, private bank by 0.9 per cent and FMCG by 0.6 per cent.

Among stocks, Eicher Motors gained by 1.7 per cent to Rs 2,706 per share. The other which added gains were Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, HDFC Bank and Grasim.

However, those which lost marginally were HDFC Life, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Dr Reddy's, Cipla and Wipro.

Meanwhile, most Asian stocks gained, extending the rally that took global equities to a record high after a US jobs report signalled the economic recovery remained intact.

Japanese markets, however, bucked the trend with the Nikkei falling 0.5 per cent following a surge in Covid-19 infections in Tokyo, just weeks before the city hosts the Olympics.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 per cent led by a 1 per cent gain in Taiwan.