Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Dec 12 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices edged higher during early hours on Thursday with metal and pharma stocks showing the most gains.

At 10:15 am, the BSE SP Sensex was up by 130 points to 40,543 while the Nifty 50 gained 47 points at 11,958. All sectoral indices were in the positive zone with Nifty metal up by 1.5 per cent, pharma by 1.1 per cent and PSU bank by 1 per cent.

Among stocks, Vedanta moved up by 2.7 per cent at Rs 142.25 per share while Hindalco edged higher by 2.4 per cent, Tata Steel by 2.1 per cent and JSW Steel by 1.4 per cent. Pharma major Cipla added gains of 2.6 per cent at Rs 461.75 per share and Sun Pharma was up by 1.4 per cent.

The other prominent winners were Yes Bank, UPL, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Eicher Motors. However, ONGC, Bharti Infratel, HCL Technologies and HDFC were on a low swing.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose to the highest in a month after the US Federal Reserve signalled that interest rates are likely to remain accommodative. But the upcoming election in Britain and a deadline for US-China trade talks kept most investors cautious.

The Fed kept interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting a day earlier. That helped MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan climb by 0.8 per cent to the highest since November 11. Japan's Nikkei stock index rose by 0.18 per cent.

Reports said US President Donald Trump is expected to meet soon with top advisers to discuss tariffs on nearly 160 billion dollars of Chinese consumer goods that are scheduled to take effect on December 15. (ANI)