Equity indices up 1 pc, energy and IT stocks gain

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 2 : Equity benchmark indices were in the positive terrain during early hours on Tuesday with energy and IT stocks witnessing substantial gains amid positive global trends.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 514 points or 1.03 per cent at 50,364 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 154 points or 1.03 per cent to 14,915.
All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty IT up by 2.1 per cent, realty by 0.9 per cent and private bank by 0.7 per cent.
Among stocks, Bharat Petroleum Corporation rose by 5.4 per cent to Rs 479.85 per share after the company said it will exit Numaligarh refinery in Assam by selling its entire stake to a consortium of Oil India Ltd and Engineers India Ltd for Rs 9,876 crore.
Power utility NTPC was up by 3.7 per cent to Rs 112.45 while IndianOil Corporation edged higher by 3.2 per cent to Rs 103.95. IT majors Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services were traded higher by about 2 per cent.
However, ONGC fell by 1.3 per cent to Rs 115.55 per share. Hindalco, HDFC, Eicher Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Dr Reddy's traded with a negative bias.
Meanwhile, Asia extended the global rally in stocks as a halt in a recent bond markets sell-off eased investor nerves and lifted riskier assets.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan firmed by 0.97 per cent while Japan's Nikkei was slightly down by 0.12 per cent.
Chinese blue-chips gained by 0.58 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced by 0.9 per cent, helped by steady and robust demand from investors in mainland China for shares in the Asian financial hub.