The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Tuesday extended their gains in the morning trade defying tepid Asian trends. At 9.40 am, the BSE Sensex edged up 200 points to 67,328. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 index is trading at 20,033, up 36 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, L&T, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel, TCS, Infosys, Axis Bank were among the early gainers. On the downside, NTPC, Maruti, HUL, Tata Motors, PowerGrid, Reliance were the top laggards. L&T scaled a new high, surging 3.5 per cent after the company raised its buyback price to Rs 3,200 from Rs 3,000 earlier.
In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose up to 0.34 per cent.
Sectorwise, Nifty Pharma index rallied over 1 per cent, leading gains, while Auto, FMCG, and Realty indices are trailing in the red zone.
In the previous session on Monday, the BSE Sensex closed at 67,127, up 528 points, while the Nifty50 index hit an all-time high of 20,008. It, eventually, closed at 19,996, up 176 points.
"Optimism regarding India's growth prospects in a low-growth world and a fast decelerating China has triggered this rally enabling the Nifty to cross the psychological 20,000 mark. FIIs, too, have joined the party with a buy figure of Rs 1,473 crore," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said. The participation of the fairly valued large banking stocks and RIL make this rally healthy even when the overall market valuation is turning expensive, he added.
In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading in the green while Seoul quoted lower. The US markets ended in positive territory on Monday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Monday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,473.09 crore, according to exchange data.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.39 per cent to $90.99 a barrel.
Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated by 10 paise to 82.93 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday tracking a positive trend in domestic equities and foreign fund inflows. Forex traders said the rupee is trading in a narrow range as the soft US dollar and positive domestic markets provided support, while concerns over global economic slowdown and rising expectations of a rate hike by FOMC amid strong economic data from the US may cap sharp gains for the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.93, registering a rise of 10 paise over its last close. On Monday, the rupee closed on a flat note at 83.03 against the American currency. In the initial trade, the rupee also touched a low of 83.00 against the greenback.