Sensex Zooms 468 Points, Nifty Trades At 17,449; Auto And Realty Stocks Lead

New Delhi: The key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday started trade on a positive note, helped by strong global cues as Russia said it will pull back troops from some regions in Ukraine.

At 10.1o am, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 468 points to 58,411, while the NSE Nifty was trading at 17,449, up 124 points.

Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Nestle, L&T, HDFC, Asian Paints, Maruti, Axis Bank, Ultratech Cement, and IndusInd Bank were the top Sensex winners, up to 1.4 per cent higher. While, Tata Consumer, Tata Motors, and HeroMoto were the additional gainers on Nifty.  

On the downside, Tata Steel, Tech M, Sun Pharma, NTPC, ONGC, Hindalco, and JSW Steel were the top laggards on the bourses. 

Midcap and smallcap shares were trading on a positive note as Nifty Midcap 100 moved 0.50 up and smallcap shares climbed 0.92 per cent.

13 out of the 15 sector gauges, compiled by the National Stock Exchange, were trading in the green. Nifty Bank and Nifty FMCG were outperforming the index by rising as much as 0.76 per cent and 0.72 per cent, respectively. Nifty Metal, however, slipped as much as 1.66 per cent.

On the other hand, Nifty Realty and Auto were the sectoral winners, up 1.2 per cent each, followed by Media. All sectoral indices were in green, barring Nifty Metals and Oil & Gas.

In the previous trade, the BSE benchmark had jumped 350.16 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 57,943.65. The NSE Nifty gained 103.30 points or 0.60 per cent to settle at 17,325.30.

Elsewhere in Asia, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green, while Tokyo quoted lower during mid-session deals.

Stock exchanges in the US ended with gains on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.66 per cent to $111.03 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 35.47 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.

"US equities extended gains and closed higher as Russia-Ukraine peace talks reinstated optimism among investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 per cent. The S&P 500 index jumped 1.2 per cent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite increased 1.8 per cent," Mitul Shah, head of research at Reliance Securities, told the PTI.