Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Mar 20 : Equity benchmark indices witnessed volatility during early hours on Friday as policymakers around the world took further actions to minimise the human and economic impact of coronavirus pandemic.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 306 points or 1.08 per cent to 28,594 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 95 points or 1.15 per cent to 8,358.
Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty realty down by 4 per cent, private bank by 3.9 per cent and financial service by 3.5 per cent. But Nifty FMCG gained by 3.2 per cent and pharma by 2.4 per cent.
Among stocks, private banks suffered heavy losses with IndusInd Bank down by 6.6 per cent to Rs 414.55 per share. HDFC Bank slipped by 5.3 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 4.6 per cent, ICICI Bank by 2.9 per cent and Axis Bank by 2.7 per cent.
The other prominent losers were HDFC, Bajaj Finance, Eicher Motors, Ad Ports and Titan.
However, GAIL gained by 8 per cent to Rs 74.95 per share while ITC moved up by 6.3 per cent. Power Grid Corporation, Zee Entertainment, Dr Reddy's, Hindustan Lever and ONGC gained between 4 and 6 per cent.
Meanwhile, Asian shares staged a rare rally as Wall Street eked out gains. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 3.2 per cent after seven sessions of losses. South Korean shares bounced by 3.5 per cent.
The Covid-19 infection cases have risen drastically outside China, hurting major economies and disrupting supply chains. But many countries have poured in massive amounts of stimulus into their economies while central banks have flooded markets with cheap dollars to ease funding strains.
( With inputs from ANI )