Equity benchmark indices hovered in the positive terrain during early hours on Monday following buoyancy in Asian and global markets. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 186 points at 40,351 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 62 points to 11,953. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty media which slipped by 1.2 per cent. Among stocks, metal companies showed dramatic gains with Hindalco up by 5.3 per cent, Tata Steel by 4.7 per cent, Vedanta and JSW Steel by 4.4 per cent each. Vodafone Idea rose by 7.2 per cent after the company’s management denied reports of exiting its India business. Bharti Infratel, Bajaj Finserv, Grasim, ICICI Bank and Bharat Petroleum Corporation were also in the green. However, Yes Bank lost by 3.4 per cent after the private sector lender reported a loss of Rs 600 crore in the September quarter due to higher provisions and one-time deferred tax assets adjustment alongside a sharp rise in non-performing assets. The other losers were Zee Entertainment, Hero MotoCorp, Infosys and Titan. Meanwhile, Asian shares surged to more than 14-week highs as growing optimism over US-China trade talks and upbeat US job data boosted global investors’ appetite for riskier assets. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan jumped by 1 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led gains in the region, rising by 1.4 per cent and Seoul’s Kospi by 1.3 per cent. Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday. The United States and China both said on Friday that they have made progress in talks aimed at defusing their 16-month-long trade war. US officials said a deal could be signed this month.
