The Indian equity benchmarks moved higher on Wednesday led by gains in index heavyweights like Infosys, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and HCL Technologies despite weak global cues. The Sensex rose as much as 294 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 17,063.
As of 9:32 am, the Sensex was up 271 points at 57,418 and Nifty 50 index advanced 64 points to 17,047.
Most of the Asian markets were trading lower with Japan's Nikkei down 0.14 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 2 per cent, Taiwan Weighted fell 0.15 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI declined 0.2 per cent
Another volatile run on Wall Street left stocks lower Tuesday, extending the market’s recent losses as traders brace for updates on inflation and corporate earnings.
The S&P 500 fell 0.7 per cent, marking its fifth straight loss. The benchmark index had been down as much as 1.2 per cent in the early going after a dour forecast from the International Monetary Fund stoked recession fears. It then gained as much as 0.8 per cent before a late-afternoon reversal.
The Nasdaq composite also slid back into the red, ending 1.1 per cent lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed most of a 1.2 per cent gain to finish 0.1 per cent higher.
The major indexes came into the day with four straight losses. Recession fears have been weighing heavily on markets as stubbornly hot inflation burns businesses and consumers. Economic growth has been slowing as consumers temper spending and the Federal Reserve and other central banks raise interest rates.
Back home, buying interest was broad-based as all the 15 sector gauges, barring the measure of media shares, were trading higher led by the Nifty IT index's 0.7 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, FMCG, PSU Bank, Private Banka and realty indices also rose over 0.5 per cent each.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.3 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.6 per cent.
Power Grid was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.75 per cent to Rs 214. HCL Technologies, BPCL, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Coal India, Wipro, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, SBI Life and TCS also rose between 0.9-2.4 per cent.
On the flipside, ONGC, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Apollo Hospitals, Adani Enterprises, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs and L&T were among the notable losers.
