The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday climbed in early trade tracking a rally in global markets and buying in Reliance Industries. However, the indices pared gains and turned volatile in the later part of the day. At 2 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading 108 points up at 71,766. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trdaing at 21,670, up 52 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Reliance, Axis Bank, UltraCemco, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, PowerGrid were among the lead gainers. On the downside, Wipro, HCLTech, L&T, Nestle India, HUL, Infosys emerged losers.
At 2 pm, a total of 2,081 shares advanced, 1,154 declined, and 69 remain unchanged.
In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices advanced over 0.6 per cent each.
Sectorally, auto stocks rally while IT stocks came under pressure.
"The Q3 results season starting today with the results of TCS and Infosys will provide indications of the Nifty earnings for FY24," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark closed 272 points higher at 71,658, while the NSE Nifty50 advanced 74 points to 21,619.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading with gains. The US markets ended in the positive territory on Wednesday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.39 per cent to $77.11 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,721.35 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, the rupee stayed firm for the seventh consecutive session and gained 2 paise to 83.01 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday boosted by a weak American currency and softening crude oil prices. Sustained buying in the domestic equity markets also supported the Indian currency even as investors were awaiting US inflation data to be released later in the day, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic currency opened at 83.05 and slipped to 83.06 against the greenback for a while. It later traded at 83.01, registering a gain of 2 paise from its previous close. The domestic currency settled 10 paise higher at 83.03 on Wednesday.