Sensex rose as much as 297 points.
The Indian equity benchmarks moved higher on Wednesday paced by gains in IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto. The Sensex rose as much as 390 points to hit an intraday high of 49,334 and Nifty 50 index moved above its important psychological level of 14,750.
As of 9:46 am, the Sensex was up 340 points or 0.7 per cent at 49,289 and Nifty 50 index advanced 96 points to 14,749.
Meanwhile, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.23 per cent. Australian stocks rose 0.55 per cent, but shares in China slipped 0.44 per cent. Stocks in Tokyo edged 0.16 per cent higher.
Overnight, shares eased from record peaks on Tuesday as optimism about a global economic recovery was dented by caution before a policy decision by the Federal Reserve and earnings updates from a number of blue-chip companies.
Back home, Bajaj Finance was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose over 3 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 5,036 after its net profit in March quarter rose 42 per cent to 1,346.64 crore. Its assets under management (AUM) as of March 31, 2021 grew by 19 per cent to Rs 38,871 crore from Rs 32,705 crore as of March 31, 2020.
UPL, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, State Bank of India, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Consumer Products, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Eicher Motors also rose between 1.4-2.6 per cent.
On the flipside, JSW Steel, Britannia Industries, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Wipro, SBI Life and Maruti Suzuki were among the notable losers.
Buying was visible across sectors as nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Auto index’s over 1.5 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, PSU Bank, Private Bank and IT indices also rose between 0.5-1 per cent.
On the other hand, metal and pharma indices were trading lower.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rose 0.7 per cent each.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,644 shares were advancing while 550 were declining on the BSE.