Metal stocks lift equity indices after govt's push on infrastructure

Equity benchmark indices were steady during early hours on Thursday with all sectoral indices in the green led by the metal, infrastructure and IT stocks.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently announced a Rs 102 lakh crore infrastructure project pipeline for the next five years at a time when overall economic growth is slowing, a move that is likely to help the country nearly double GDP's size to five trillion dollars by 2025.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 128 points to 41,434 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 35 points at 12,217.

Among stocks, JSW Steel gained by 2 per cent to trade at Rs 273.45 per share while Tata Steel too moved up by 2 per cent, Hindalco by 1.2 per cent and Vedanta by 0.8 per cent. UltraTech Cement ticked up by 1.2 per cent and Grasim by 1.1 per cent.

Private lenders IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank added gains of 0.7 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively while Tata Motors accelerated by 1 per cent.

However, Bajaj Auto, Titan, Coal India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Zee Entertainment were in losses.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were buoyed by Chinese markets after Beijing eased monetary policy to support slowing growth. Investors also cheered news that the United States and China will sign a trade pact soon after a year of volatile negotiations between the world's two largest economies.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.35 per cent. In China, the blue-chip CSI300 index was 1.34 per cent higher but Seoul's Kospi began the year down by 0.85 per cent. Markets in Japan are closed for a national holiday.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that phase one of the trade deal with China will be signed on January 15 at the White House, though uncertainty surrounds details about the agreement.

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