The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday opened higher in the opening trade just hours before the presentation of the Union Budget. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Budget in the Lok Sabha at 11 am.
The S&P BSE Sensex zoomed to the day's high to 60,600, up over 1,000 points, as the FM proposed changes to income tax slabs for individuals. The Nifty50 is above 17,900.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, barring Sun Pharma, all scrips were trading in the green. ICICI Bank is the lead gainer, up 4.19 per cent. On the other hand, UPL, Britannia, Hindalco, Divis Labs, JSW Steel, Tata Consumer Products, Tech M, and Hero MotoCorp were the top gainers on the Nifty50 index, advancing up to 3 per cent in early deals. Adani Enterprises, BPCL, Coal India, ITC, M&M, SBI Life, and IndusInd Bank, on the contrary, were the major laggards, down in the range of 0.14 per cent to 1.3 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices added 1.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.
The gains were broad-based in the markets with all sectoral indices trading higher. The Nifty Bank index was the top gainer, rising over 1 per cent. Besides, the Nifty Media, Metal, and Pharma indices advanced 0.6 per cent each.
The S&P BSE Sensex Sensex closed at 59,549 levels, up 50 points or 0.08 per cent, while Nifty50 closed at 17,662 levels, up 13 points or 0.07 per cent. Both Nifty50 and the S&P BSE Sensex hit day's low of 17,537, and 59,104, respectively
Asia-Pacific shares traded higher as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's Wednesday meeting, as well as some economic data in the region. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.71 per cent, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.8 per cent, and South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.8 per cent. Overnight, Wall Street ended higher with the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite rallying between 1 per cent and 1.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, the rupee rises 10 paise to 81.78 against US dollar in early trade.