Equities indices gain ahead of RBI policy rate decision

Equity benchmark indices traded with healthy gains during early hours amid hopes of key interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) later on Friday.

Equity benchmark indices traded with healthy gains during early hours amid hopes of key interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) later on Friday. The RBI's monetary policy committee is expected to announce the fifth consecutive rate cut this year to support government measures for boosting economic activity amid benign inflation.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 214 points at 38,321 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 49 points to 11,363. At the National Stock Exchange, sectoral indices were mixed. Among stocks, the prominent gainers were IndusInd Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Cipla, UPL and HDFC. However, Zee Entertainment, Yes Bank, IndianOil Corporation, Grasim and JSW Steel were in the negative zone.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks edged higher tracking gains on Wall Street a day earlier, but the mood was cautious before a key US job report. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 0.3 per cent while Japan's Nikkei stock index lost by 0.17 per cent. Hong Kong shares were also down by 0.13 per cent with the fragile sentiment as the territory's government mulls emergency laws to contain months of often violent protest against China's rule of the former British colony. (ANI)

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