Sensex, Nifty edge higher ahead of Economic Survey

Equity benchmark indices edged higher during early hours on Thursday with government-owned banks showing gains as investors awaited the Economic Survey 2019 later during the day.

At 10:00 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up 109 points at 39,948 while the Nifty 50 gained 35 points to 11,952.

At the National Stock Exchange, sectoral indices were mixed. Nifty FMCG, IT, and metal were in the negative zone but auto, financial service and realty showed advances.

Among stocks, Indiabulls Housing Finance gained nearly 4 per cent while UPL was up over 2 per cent. Eicher Motors, Yes Bank and State Bank of India also gained between 1.2 to 1.7 per cent.

However, Titan, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Bharti Infratel and Bajaj Auto showed losses.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks saw modest gains, tracking solid gains on Wall Street as data pointed to slowing economic growth in the United States. Investors hoped for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve as soon as this month.

Shares in Japan, Australia and South Korea rose but China and Hong Kong shares were little changed due to uncertainty over US-China trade disputes.

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