Stock Market: Sensex Rises Over 400 Points; Nifty Atop 19,800 On Strong Global Cues. Wipro Leads

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, UltraCemco, HUL, NTPC, JSW Steel, Infosys, Wipro emerged early gainers. All the 30 constituents were trading in the green

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and the Smallcap indices advanced around 0.8 per cent.

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The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday started trade on a positive note tracking robust global cues following US yields dropped to 4.65 per cent from a 16-year record high of 4.86 per cent last week. At 9.45 am, the BSE Sensex jumped 418 points to 66,490. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was quoting 19,812, up 122 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, UltraCemco, HUL, NTPC, JSW Steel, Infosys, Wipro emerged early gainers. All the 30 constituents were trading in the green. Share of TCS was trading flat ahead of its Q2 results on Wednesday. The TCS board will also be considering a proposal for share buyback.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and the Smallcap indices advanced around 0.8 per cent.

Sectorally, all the sectoral indices are trading in the posituve zone, with realty up 1 per cent.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the S&P BSE Sensex zoomed 567 points to 66,079, while the NSE Nifty50 quoted 19,690, up 178 points.

V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the fundamental support to the market comes from the resilience of the US economy, the declining US bond yields and the hope that the Israel-Hamas conflict will remain a localised crisis which will not impact crude prices. "The fact that Nifty is just 2.5 per cent away from the all-time high indicates the strength and resilience of the market. Even though FIIs are sustained sellers in the market, buying by DIIs, HNIs and retail are counterbalancing the selling and supporting the market. Safety is in large-caps," he noted. DIIs and HNIs refer to Domestic Institutional Investors and High Networth Individuals, respectively.

Asian markets, including Japan, China and Hong Kong, were trading with gains. European and US markets closed in the green on Tuesday. 

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to be net sellers as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,005.49 crore on Tuesday, according to data available with BSE.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 3 paise to 83.22 against the US dollar on Wednesday, tracking cues from positive equity markets and a weaker American currency against major rivals overseas. However, selling pressure from foreign equity investors weighed on the Indian currency, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.20 and then touched 83.22 against the greenback, up 3 paise from its previous close. On Tuesday, the rupee settled at 83.25 against the US dollar. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 105.77.