The Indian equity benchmarks moved higher on Thursday ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts amid strong cues from global markets. The 30-share Sensex rose as much as 366 points and Nifty 50 index moved above its psychological level of 17,000. Asian markets were trading higher with Japan's Nikkei rising 0.43 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.2 per cent and Taiwan Weighted up 0.6 per cent.
As of 9:21 am, the Sensex was up 293 points or 0.51 per cent at 57,223 and Nifty 50 index was up 94 points at 17,049.
Overnight, US stocks closed higher as investors sought riskier assets despite surging Omicron cases across the globe. S&P 500 index rose 1 per cent, Nasdaq advanced 1.2 per cent and Dow Jones rose 0.74 per cent.
Back home, Infosys, HDFC, ITC, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were among the top movers in the Sensex.
Buying was visible across the board as all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Realty index's over 1.3 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, Media, FMCG, IT, Metal, PSU Bank and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 0.5-1.2 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.74 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.88 per cent.
Among the individual shares, Great Eastern Shipping rose over 5 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 299 after the company informed exchanges that its board will meet on December 27 to consider and approve proposal for buy-back of equity shares of the company.
Adani Ports was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 3 per cent to Rs 745. Indian Oil, Power Grid, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, ONGC, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Coal India, Bajaj Finserv and Tata Steel also rose between 1.3-2.9 per cent.
On the flipside, Divi's Labs, UPL, Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel were among the notable losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 2,144 shares were advancing while 554 were declining on the BSE.
