Stock Market: Sensex Rises 291 Points, Nifty Trades Near 15,900; Bank, Auto Lead

Stock update: Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki India, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers on the BSE

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Wednesday opened in the green amid slump in Asian markets.

At 10.30 am, the BSE Sensex was up 291 points to 53,425, while the broader NSE Nifty was trading at 15,880, up 70 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki India and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. On the flipside, Tata Steel, NTPC, Power Grid and Reliance Industries were the laggards.

In the broader markets, Midcap and Smallcap shares were trading on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.61 per cent and Smallcap rose 0.50 per cent.

On NSE, 12 out of the 15 sector gauges were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Bank, Nifty Auto, and Nifty IT were outperforming NSE platform by rising as much as 0.89 per cent, 0.98 per cent, and 0.51 per cent, respectively.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,570 shares were advancing, while 698 were declining on the BSE.

"There are lots of signals from markets: Brent crude crashed to near $100 a barrel, dollar index rose above 106, rupee again depreciated to an all-time low, euro is at 20-year low to the dollar and, perhaps most importantly from Indian market perspective, FIIs turned buyers after a long gap," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

While crude crash along with corrections in other commodities like metals is a bearish signal indicating the increasing possibility of recession in the US, he said commodity crash is positive for the Indian economy and FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors) turning buyers is a bullish signal for Indian equity market.

"According to preliminary data made public on the NSE, FIIs became net purchasers on July 5 for the first time since May 30, purchasing shares worth Rs 1,295.84 crore," Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS at Hem Securities, said.

In their previous trading on Tuesday, the BSE benchmark declined 100 points (0.19 per cent) to settle at 53,134, the Nifty dipped 24 points (0.15 per cent) to 15,810.

FIIs turned net buyers after remaining net sellers in the capital market for past many days, as they bought shares worth Rs 1,295.84 crore on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading lower on Wednesday. The US markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.31 per cent to $104.13 per barrel.