Stocks gain marginally in early hours amid volatile trading

Equity benchmark indices gained marginally in volatile trading during early hours on Friday, a day after the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy cut interest rates marginally on expected lines.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up 85 points at 39,614 while the Nifty 50 gained 31 points to 11,875. Except IT, metal and realty, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative zone.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up 11 points at 39,541 while the Nifty 50 gained 19 points to 11,863. Except IT, metal and realty, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative zone.

Among stocks, Dr Reddy dropped 2.7 per cent while pharma major Cipla was down 2.5 per cent. The other losers were IndusInd Bank, Maruti and Sun Pharma.

However, Vedanta, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Bharti Infratel, State Bank of India and Sun Pharma showed marginal gains.

Meanwhile, Asian shares traded mixed as investors awaited a key US jobs report and the outcome of further tariff negotiations between the Trump administration and Mexico.

Shares in Japan and South Korea were little changed. Markets in Hong Kong and China are shut for holidays. Japan's Nikkei firmed 0.3 per cent.