Domestic markets opened higher in Wednesday's trade, as investors pinned hopes on end of monetary tightening cycle ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due later today.
The strength spilled across broader markets too, as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices gained up to 0.3 per cent. Volatility gauge, India VIX, meanwhile, slipped over 2 per cent.
All sectors started trade in a positive territory, with Nifty IT index gaining the most - over 1 per cent. While HDFC Life, and SBI Life were the top gainers in the Nifty50 index, Asian Paints, and Coal India were the top laggards.
At 9:38 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 58250.06 up by 175.38 points or by 0.3 % and then NSE Nifty was at 17172.35 up by 64.85 points or by 0.38 %.
Sensex touched intraday high of 58418.78 and intraday low of 58144.21 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 17207.25 and intraday low of 17168.5
The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (Rs. 2244.65,+1.64%), Bajaj Finance Ltd. (Rs. 5804.00,+1.64%), Bajaj Finserv Ltd. (Rs. 1285.80,+1.46%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1174.20,+1.21%), Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 417.05,+1.13%), among others.
The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 221.20,-0.78%), NTPC Ltd. (Rs. 176.35,-0.51%), Nestle India Ltd. (Rs. 18825.20,-0.47%), Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1699.75,-0.45%), HDFC Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1573.95,-0.35%), among others.
CGS index was at 34803.76 up by 294.58 points or by 0.85%. Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (Rs. 2244.65,+1.64%), Suzlon Energy Ltd. (Rs. 7.92,+1.54%), Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd. (Rs. 413.00,+1.03%), Schaeffler India Ltd. (Rs. 2774.45,+0.97%), Polycab India Ltd. (Rs. 2886.55,+0.85%),.
PSU index was at 9539.7 down by 3.36 points or by 0.04%. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 352.90,-1.56%), Coal India Ltd. (Rs. 213.95,-1.38%), National Aluminium Company Ltd. (Rs. 78.26,-1.10%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 221.20,-0.78%), GAIL (India) Ltd. (Rs. 104.25,-0.76%),.
The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2867 , shares advanced were 1980 while 778 shares declined and 109 were unchanged.