Equity indices ride high, UPL gains 7 pc

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 9 : Equity benchmark indices were on upswing during early hours on Tuesday tracking firm trends in Asian markets.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 388 points or 0.77 per cent at 50,829 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 127 points or 0.85 per cent to 15,083.
Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain with Nifty financial service up by 1.4 per cent, private bank by 1 per cent and metal by 0.7 per cent.
Among stocks, agro-chemicals maker UPL ticked up by 7 per cent to Rs 633.45 per share. Cement manufacturers Grasim, Shree Cement and UltraTech Cement moved up by 4.1 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively.
SBI Life jumped by 3.5 per cent to Rs 956.40 per share as the company reported new business premium picking up last month. HDFC Life too was up by 2.1 per cent to Rs 740.45 per unit.
The other prominent gainers were GAIL, ONGC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and Titan.
However, some energy majors lost with Bharat Petroleum Corporation dropping by 4.1 per cent, IndianOil Corporation by 1.4 per cent and Power Grid Corporation by 1 per cent.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks opened strong, helped mostly by global recovery prospects and the passage of a 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus bill.
Japan's Nikkei 225 added 1.06 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 1.35 per cent. But South Korea's Kospi fell by 1.17 per cent on rising bond yields.