Equity indices move up marginally led by rally in IT, pharma stocks

Equity benchmark indices ticked up during early hours on Wednesday tracking a bounce in Asian markets as China's response to a virus outbreak tempered fears of a global pandemic.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 55 points to 41,379 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 12 points at 12,182. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed but Nifty IT climbed up by 1.3 per cent and pharma by 1 per cent.

Among stocks, Infosys gained by 1.6 per cent to Rs 774.70 per share while HCL Technologies was up by 1.4 per cent. Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Tech Mahindra advanced by 1 per cent each.

Pharma majors Dr Reddy's, Cipla and Sun Pharma too gained by 1 per cent each while metal giants Vedanta and Hindalco were up by 2 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively.

However, Zee Entertainment dropped by 3.4 per cent after the company posted 38 per cent drop in consolidated net profit during the third quarter (October to December) to Rs 349 crore from Rs 562 crore in the same period last year. Coal India, ONGC, Power Grid Corporation and NTPC witnessed losses between 2.7 and 3.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets bounced as China's reacted quickly to a virus outbreak but Shanghai shares slipped amid worries over a hit to domestic demand and tourism.

The Shanghai Composite index traded 0.5 per cent lower. Markets elsewhere advanced, driving the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up by 0.5 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei, South Korea's Kospi index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by more than half a percentage point after heavy drops a day earlier.

.