Stocks markets extend gains on positive global cues, metals rise further

Equity benchmark gauges ruled firm during early hours on Thursday after ending higher for five consecutive sessions, largely due to upbeat sentiment supported by positive global developments.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 129 points at 37,400 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 32 points to 11,068.

At the National Stock Exchange, all sectoral indices except for auto and IT were in the positive zone. Nifty metal gained by 1.3 per cent, private bank by 0.9 per cent and financial service by 0.8 per cent.

Among stocks, Indiabulls Housing Finance was up by 3 per cent to Rs 444.70 per share and HDFC by 1 per cent to Rs 2,094 apiece.

Tata Steel moved up by 2.9 per cent. ICICI Bank edged higher by 2.9 per cent and IndusInd Bank by 2.3 per cent. Oil marketing firms like Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum gained by 1.7 per cent each.

However, auto and IT stocks were in the red. Bajaj Auto, Maruti, Eicher Motors and Hero MotoCorp lost between 0.7 to 0.9 per cent. Tech Mahindra was down by 0.8 per cent. Private lenders Yes Bank and Axis Bank also lost by 0.8 per cent each.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks hit a six-week high with somewhat easing of US-China trade frictions and expectations that the European Central Bank will begin another wave of monetary easing by global central banks.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.4 per cent and Japan's Nikkei stock index rose by 0.88 per cent.

Chinese stocks rose after US President Donald Trump agreed to delay an additional increase in tariffs on Chinese goods by two weeks at the request of China's Vice Premier Liu He as a gesture of goodwill.

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