Sensex, Nifty Edge Higher Led By Gains In ICICI Bank, HDFC

The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Tuesday led by gains in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC. The upside fwas capped owing to weak cues from other Asian markets. The Sensex rose as much as 235 points and Nifty 50 index moved above its important psychological level of 16,900. Most of the Asian markets were trading lower as surging Covid-19 cases in China further spooked investor sentiment which is already battered with ongoing war in Ukraine amid concerns of first rate hike by the US in three years. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.8 per cent, Taiwan Weighted dropped 1.5 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI declined 0.5 per cent and Shanghai Composite declined 1.25 per cent.

As of 9:23 am, the Sensex was up 21 points at 56,507 and Nifty 50 index advanced 8 points to 16,880.

Overnight, stocks lost more ground, crude oil prices fell and bond yields rose sharply Monday as anxiety over the war in Ukraine and an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates keep global financial markets on edge.

The S&P 500 gave up an early gain and closed 0.7 per cent lower after another choppy day of trading on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed essentially flat and the Nasdaq composite fell 2 per cent. The pullback came as the yield on the 10-year Treasury touched its highest level since the summer of 2019.

Back home, eleven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Realty index's 1.8 per cent gain. Pharma, Healthcare, FMG and Auto shares were also witnessing a subdued buying interest.

On the other hand, IT, Metal, Media and Oil & Gas shares were facing selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing a mild buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rose 0.3 per cent each.

Tata Consumer Products was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.55 per cent to Rs 741. Cipla, Matuti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ultratech Cement, Divi's Labs, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors and Sun Pharma also rose 1.15-1.77 per cent.

On the flipside, ONGC, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Coal India, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid, Infosys and NTPC were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,933 shares were advancing while 749 were declining on the BSE.