Equity indices on upward swing, Bharti Infratel gains 5.3 pc

Indian benchmark indices continued their upward march during early hours on Thursday after scaling new highs a day earlier.

However, investors were cautious amid concerns that US President Donald Trump signing law support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong could become a sticking point in signing the US-China trade deal.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 69 points to 41,090 while the Nifty 50 gained by 22 points at 12,123. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty auto, FMCG and media. Nifty PSU bank added gains of 2 per cent while Nifty IT rose by 0.5 per cent.

Bharti Infratel moved up by 5.3 per cent at Rs 237.40 per share while UPL rose by 3.8 per cent at Rs 572.95 apiece. Private lenders Yes Bank and ICICI Bank were up by 2.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively as metal majors JSW Steel and Tata Steel gained by 1.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent.

The other scrips which were in positive terrain included Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Coal India. However, Zee Entertainment, Tata Motors, Hindustan Lever, Vedanta and Bajaj Finance were in the red.

Meanwhile, Asian share markets wobbled as concerns mounted that tensions over Hong Kong may worsen fractious relations between Washington and Beijing.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a legislation backing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and China's Foreign Ministry promptly warned of unspecified firm counter measures in response.

As a result, MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 0.1 per cent while Japan's Nikkei, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Shanghai blue chips fluctuated between gains and losses.

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