The Indian equity benchmarks extended gains on Wednesday mirroring gains in global markets as hopes rose for a negotiated end to the Ukraine conflict. The Sensex rose as much as 704 points and Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 17,500 led by gains in heavyweights like HDFC, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Bharti Airtel.
As of 11:18 am, the Sensex was up 684 points or 1.2 per cent at 58,628 and Nifty 50 index climbed 180 points or 1.04 per cent to 17,505.
Stocks notched more gains on Wall Street Tuesday as investors welcomed encouraging economic data and as talks on ending the war in Ukraine showed signs of progress.
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The S&P 500 rose 1.2 per cent, its fourth straight gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1 per cent higher and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.8 per cent. The latest gains build on the major indexes’ gains the past two weeks, even in the midst of choppy trading and volatile energy prices.
The market rally followed signs that first face-to-face talks in two weeks between Russia and Ukraine made some progress. Turkey hosted the discussions Tuesday, and the nation’s foreign minister said afterward that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators had reached “a consensus and common understanding” on some issues.
Back home, twelve of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Realty index's over 1.6 per cent gain. Nifty Media, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Financial Services, Auto and Bank indices also rose between 1-1.5 per cent.
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On the other hand, Metal, Pharma and Oil & Gas shares were facing selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.44 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 1.2 per cent.
Among the individual shares, Axis Bank jumped 3.8 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 766 pon the BSE on report that the bank is set to acquire Citibank's Indian retail business.
Tata Consumer Products was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4.6 per cent to Rs 777. Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Grasim Industries, Bharti AIrtel, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC also rose between 1.5-3.3 per cent.
On the flipside, ONGC, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Coal India and Dr Reddy's Labs were among the notable losers.
The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,239 shares were advancing while 679 were declining on the BSE.
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