Stock markets in positive zone before Modi government begins second term

Equity benchmark indices edged higher during early hours on Monday, a few days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins his second term with renewed optimism to boost economic growth.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up 166 points at 39,600 while the Nifty 50 gained 45 points to 11,890. At the National Stock Exchange, all sectoral indices were in the positive zone.

Among the early gainers were power utility major NTPC which moved up more than 5 per cent and Yes Bank which was up nearly 3.5 per cent. The other gainers were Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, and Grasim.

However, JSW Steel, Tech Mahindra, Zee Entertainment, Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors were in the red.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks were mixed as investors assessed valuations after declines over the past three weeks.

Japan stocks moved up higher marginally while Hong Kong and China stocks fell. Main equity gauges in Australia and South Korea were little changed.

Worries lingered as the US-China trade conflict threatened to snowball into a technology cold war between the world's two largest economies.

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