Sensex Rises Over 250 Points, Nifty Above 16,300; IT, Pharma Stocks Surge

Indian equity benchmarks on Wednesday rose in opening deals led by gains in information technology and pharma stocks.

Asian shares struggled to carry recent gains into a fourth straight session today. Overnight, Wall Street indexes had jumped and the U.S. dollar recoiled from near two-decade highs.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 256 points or 0.47 per cent to 54,574, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 79 points or 0.49 per cent up to trade at 16,339.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.59 per cent and small-cap climbed 0.52 per cent.

13 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma were outperforming the index by rising as much as 1.11 per cent and 1.01 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Tech Mahindra was the top gainer as the stock soared 1.74 per cent to Rs 1,219. Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consumer Products and Shree Cement were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth stood strong as 1,964 shares were advancing while 558 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, TechM, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, Wipro, Infosys, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's and TCS were among the top gainers.

Meanwhile, shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) were up 1.29 per cent at 886.70 against its previous close of Rs 875.45. LIC made a tepid debut at the stock exchanges yesterday, listing at a discount of 8.62 per cent.

In contrast, PowerGrid, NTPC and Tata Steel were trading in the red.

Sensex had rallied 1,345 points or 2.54 per cent to close at 54,318 on Tuesday, while Nifty had moved 417 points or 2.63 per cent up to settle at 16,259.