Auto and metal stocks lead the rally on bourses, Tata Motors up by 2.6 pc

Equity benchmark indices edged higher during early hours on Wednesday morning as auto and metal stocks showed gains amid positive trends in Asian markets.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex bounced by 180 points to 41,001 while the Nifty 50 gained by 54 points to 12,092. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty realty. Nifty auto added gains of 1.13 per cent while Nifty metal rose by 0.69 per cent.

Yes Bank moved up by 4.99 per cent to level at Rs 66.30 per share while home financer HDFC was up by 1.49 per cent at Rs 2,339 apiece. Auto majors lifted the market sentiment with Tata Motors gaining by 2.6 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra by 1.8 per cent and Maruti by 1.4 per cent.

Metal stocks also saw a spurt with Vedanta gaining by 1.4 per cent and JSW Steel by 1.2 per cent. The other prominent gainers were UltraTech Cement, Wipro and UPL.

However, pharma major Cipla lost by 1.5 per cent while Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, ICICI Bank and Bharti Infratel showed marginal losses.

Meanwhile, Asian shares rose as upbeat signals from US-China trade talks generated hopes of an easing of tariff hostilities. At the same time, investors hoped that the US Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.19 per cent while Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.36 per cent. But Chinese blue-chip shares dropped by 0.39 per cent after official data showed profits at China's industrial firms declining in annual terms for the third consecutive month during October.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States and China are close to agreement on the first phase of a trade deal. Top negotiators from the two countries spoke on phone and agreed to keep working on the remaining issues.