Equities spurt on Asian cues as new coronavirus cases drop

Equity benchmark indices ended four days of losing streak on Wednesday as worries about the coronavirus epidemic ebbed in Asian markets after a slight decline in the number of new cases.

Investors hoped that officials will roll out more stimulus to support the world's second-largest economy. The BSE S&P Sensex closed 429 points or over one percent higher at 41,323 while the Nifty 50 edged up by 138 points to 12,130.

All other sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty pharma up by 2.32 percent, FMCG by 1.47 percent, metal by 1.34 percent and realty by 1.12 percent.

Among stocks, Vodafone Idea jumped by more than 38 percent to Rs 4.19 per share after some reports said the government is unlikely to invoke the company's bank guarantees.

The reports said the government could consider postponing or staggering other payments due to it for giving some flexibility to telcos to pay money towards adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

Bharti Infratel too advanced by 7 percent to close at Rs 224.70 per share. The other prominent gainers were Grasim which moved up by 4.4 percent, Coal India by 3.4 percent and Hindustan Lever by 2.7 percent.

However, Tata Motors dropped by 2.1 percent to Rs 158.10 per share. JSW Steel, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel too traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian shares edged cautiously higher as investors tried to shake off worries about the coronavirus epidemic after a slight decline in the number of new casesJapan's Nikkei stock index rose by 0.89 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng moved up by 0.46 percent while South Korea's Kospi advanced marginally by 0.07 percent.