Equity indices scale new highs ahead of GST Council meet, IT and metal stocks shine

Equity benchmark indices continued their record-setting rally on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the crucial Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting.

The investor risk appetite also appeared to be gradually improving on expectation of further steps in the upcoming Budget to revive consumption and attract investments.

At 12:30 pm, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 122 points to 41,474 while the Nifty 50 gained by 33 points at 12,198. At the National Stock Exchange, Nifty IT up by 0.86 per cent and metal by 0.83 per cent.

Among stocks, Wipro added gains of 1.2 per cent to level at Rs 247.80 per share. Tata Consultancy Services rose by 1.2 per cent, and HCL Technologies by 1 per cent.

Metal majors JSW Steel and Tata Steel also edged higher by 1.9 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively. Among the other winners were Mahindra and Mahindra, ITC, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's and UPL.

However, those which lost were GAIL, Hindustan Lever, Yes Bank, State Bank of India and Zee Entertainment.

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