Equity indices bounce as banking stocks gain, Reliance up 2.6 pc

Equity benchmark indices swung higher during early hours on Thursday following a spurt in Asian markets with banking stocks taking a lead. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 277 points or 0.73 per cent at 38,471 while the Nifty 50 gained by 74 points or 0.66 per cent at 11,352. Among stocks, index heavyweight Reliance Industries ticked up by 2.64 per cent to Rs 2,218.50 per share, a day after announcing that US technology investor Silver Lake will invest Rs 7,500 crore in Reliance Retail Ventures. IndusInd Bank gained by 2.7 per cent to Rs 621.10 per share while State Bank of India was up by 1.7 per cent. The other prominent gainers were Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors, HDFC Life and Sun Pharma. Among those which lost were Bharti Infratel, Bajaj Auto, JSW Steel, HCL Technologies, Nestle India and Hindustan Unilever. Meanwhile, Asia's stock markets rose following a bounce on Wall Street though investors remain cautious about the outlook. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan gained half a per cent. Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.5 per cent and markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong opened higher.