Sensex gains 264 points as fresh stimulus hopes spark sentiment

Equity benchmark indices traded higher in the afternoon trade on Friday ahead of GDP data and new government announcements to perk up the sluggish economic growth.

The BSE S & P Sensex closed 264 points higher at 37,333 while the Nifty 50 edged up by 75 points to 11,023.

At the National Stock Exchange, all sectoral indices were in the positive zone with Nifty pharma gaining by 2 per cent, metal by 1.6 per cent, realty by 1.3 per cent and PSU bank by 1 per cent.

Among stocks, Yes Bank emerged as the top gainer by moving up 5.2 per cent to close at Rs 60.40 per share. IndusInd Bank gained by 3.5 per cent while Hindustan Lever inched up by 2.7 per cent.

Metal stocks like Tata Steel, Vedanta, JSW Steel and Hindalco gained between 2.7 to 3.3 per cent each.

Meanwhile, Asian shares jumped to a one-week high following strong gains on the Wall Street overnight amid signs that China is open to a resolution of its trade war with the United States.

However, investors had lingering recession fears and hoped that central banks and governments will do more to avert a global growth slowdown.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose to the highest since August 23 but soon pared some of those gains after Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets turned negative.

Arrests or detentions of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong added to investor jitters. But Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.2 per cent while South Korea's KOSPI index gained 1.8 per cent.

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