Equity indices largely flat, auto and metal stocks gain

Equity benchmark indices were flat during early hours on Monday with auto and metal stocks in focus.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 21 points to 40,466 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 11 points at 11,933. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty FMCG, IT and realty in the negative zone but Nifty metal and auto gained by 0.94 per cent each.

Among stocks, Hindalco was up by 2 per cent at Rs 201.90 per share while Vendanta added gains of 1.3 per cent. Tata Steel traded higher by 1.2 per cent and JSW Steel by 0.9 per cent.

Auto major Maruti Suzuki too traded 2 per cent higher, Tata Motors by 1.7 per cent, Eicher Motors by 0.9 per cent and Mahindra & Mahindra by 0.7 per cent. The other prominent gainers were Zee Entertainment and Yes Bank.

However, those which lost included HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Lever, Bharti Infratel and pharma major Cipla.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks edged up, catching some of Wall Street's momentum after surprisingly strong US jobs data.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei added 0.4 per cent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.3 per cent and South Korea's Kospi was up 0.3 per cent. China's Shanghai Composite stood flat and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2 per cent.

Wall Street rose to near-record highs on Friday on the strong jobs data and some signs of optimism about the US-China trade talks.