Equity indices edge higher, Yes Bank in focus

Equity benchmark indices edged higher during early hours on Wednesday with most sectoral parameters in the green.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 170 points to 40,410 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 48 points at 11,904. Except for Nifty auto, pharma and PSU bank, all sectoral indices were in the positive zone with marginal gains.

Among stocks, IT majors showed some gains with Tata Consultancy Services up by 1.5 per cent at Rs 2,043 per share. Tech Mahindra added gain of 1.3 per cent while Infosys moved up by 0.7 per cent.

The other prominent winners were Bharti Infratel, GAIL, ICICI Bank, ITC and Coal India.

But Yes Bank share price fell by 7.3 per cent after its board of directors said it may consider 500 million dollar investment offer from the Citax Group. It said the binding offer of 1.2 billion dollars by Erwin Singh Braich and SPGP Holdings continues to be under discussion.

Power Grid Corporation, Hindustan Lever, Hero MotoCorp and pharma major Cipla too were on a low swing.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks drifted as US-China trade talks showed little progress ahead of a weekend deadline for the imposition of additional US tariffs.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan moved 0.1 per cent higher. Japan's Nikkei traded 0.2 per cent lower but Shanghai blue chips added 0.1 per cent.

Investors' focus was locked on the upcoming US Federal Reserve's policy meeting and its outlook for the economy as well as Britain's election.