Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks on Wednesday, continued to trade higher, with the Sensex breaching the crucial 60,000 mark in early trade amid positive global trends and persistent foreign fund inflows.
At 10.45 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex index was trading 309 points higher at 60,152 (0.52 per cent) in early deals. On the other hand, the broader NSE Nifty climbed 91 points to 17,916 points.
From the Sensex pack, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, and Bajaj Finserv were the biggest gainers.
On the flip side, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HDFC, and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, 23 scrips were advancing while seven were declining, keeping the breadth of the market in the green.
In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 also surged up to 0.5 per cent.
Sectorwise, Nifty Bank, Nifty Bank, and Nifty FMCG were the winners. Nifty IT, however, was the sole sectoral loser among the pack.
Rahul Shah, co-head of research, Equitymaster, said, "I think it is a case of history repeating itself. Whenever the Sensex has not entered a bear market, the reversal has been quite quick historically and the same has happened this time also. The icing on the cake is that unlike last time, the valuations are much more reasonable this time around. Although the broader market is by no means cheap, it isn't prohibitively expensive either. Therefore, those looking for fundamentally strong stocks at attractive valuations could still find pockets of undervaluation."
Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said that helping investor sentiments will be the bullish FIIs who have bought shares to the tune of Rs 16,219 crore so far in August.
In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE Sensex advanced 379 points (0.64 per cent) to settle at 59,842 points, while the Nifty climbed 127 points (0.72 per cent) to 17,825 points.
In Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted higher while Seoul was trading lower in mid-session deals. Markets on the Wall Street had ended mostly higher on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.5 per cent higher at $92.83 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the Indian capital market as they bought shares worth Rs 1,376.84 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, thee rupee appreciated 44 paise to 79.30 against the US dollar in the opening trade on Wednesday, mainly on account of foreign fund inflows.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened sharply up at 79.32 against the dollar, then gained further ground to 79.30, registering a rise of 44 paise over the last close.