Sensex Rises Over 200 Points, Nifty Trades Above 17,600

The Indian equity benchmarks on Wednesday rose in opening deals, tracking a positive trend in global markets. Asian shares traded in the green boosted by U.S. inflation figures that fared better than markets' worst expectations. Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) also indicated a gap-up start for the domestic indices.

U.S. monthly consumer prices increased by the most in 16-1/2 years in March. However, monthly underlying inflation pressures moderated as goods prices, excluding food and energy, dropped by the most in two years.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 238 points or 0.41 per cent to 58,814 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 74 points or 0.42 per cent up to 17,604.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.82 per cent and small-cap shares surged 1.07 per cent.

All the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG were outperforming the index by rising as much as 0.70 per cent and 1.39 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, JSW Steel was the top gainer as the stock soared 3.06 per cent to Rs 779. ONGC, Tata Steel, Apollo Hospitals and UPL were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth stood strong as 1,164 shares were advancing while 369 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, L&T, M&M and ITC were among the top performers.

In contrast, Titan, Asian Paints and Dr Reddy's were trading in the red.

Sensex had tanked 388 points or 0.66 per cent to close at 58,576 on Tuesday, while Nifty had moved 145 points or 0.82 per cent lower to settle at 17,530.