Sensex Rises Over 100 Points, Nifty Near 15,850 Led By HDFC, HDFC Bank
The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Wednesday led by gains in HDFC, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services. However, the upside was capped as Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Titan and UltraTech Cement were witnessing selling pressure. Meanwhile, Asian share markets stumbled on Wednesday as a bout of risk aversion boosted bonds and the dollar, while investors braced for minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting which should underline a hawkish turn in US monetary policy.
As of 9:31 am, the Sensex was up 132 points at 52,993 and Nifty 50 index advanced 29 points to 15,847.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged down 0.4 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.9 per cent.
Overnight, global stocks mostly fell Tuesday along with bond yields and crude prices, as China's latest tech crackdown and expectations of a hawkish Fed report on Wednesday waved red flags at investors. The dollar edged higher.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index withstood the stocks downdraft. After falling nearly 1 per cent by mid-day, it rallied to close up 24.32 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 14,663.64.
Back home, seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Realty index's nearly 2 per cent gain. Nifty PSU Bank, Private Bank, IT, Financial Services and Bank indices were also trading with a positive bias.
On the other hand, Nifty Auto, FMCG, Media and Pharma indices were trading with a negative bias.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing a mild buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.3 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.2 per cent.
UPL was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 1.5 per cent to Rs 815. HDFC, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, JSW Steel, Maruti Suzuki and Britannia Industries also rose between 0.4-1.4 per cent.
On the flipside, ONGC, titan, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Hero MotoCorp, Cipla and Hindalco were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was marginally positive as 1,419 shares were advancing while 1,231 were declining on the BSE.
