Sensex Rises Over 250 Points, Nifty Above 17,650 Led By Reliance, Axis Bank

The Indian equity benchmarks advanced on Tuesday led by gains in Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC, State Bank of India and NTPC amid positive cues from other Asian markets. Asian stocks were firmer on Tuesday following Wall Street's record highs on its first trading day of 2022, despite worries that the widespread Omicron COVID-19 variant could put the brakes on global economic recovery. Asian stocks were firmer on Tuesday following Wall Street's record highs on its first trading day of 2022, despite worries that the widespread Omicron COVID-19 variant could put the brakes on global economic recovery, news agency Reuters reported.

As of 9:30 am, the Sensex was up 209 points at 59,392 and Nifty 50 index advanced 61 points to 17,686.

Overnight, Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 246.76 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 36,585.06; the S&P 500 gained 30.38 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 4,796.56; and the Nasdaq Composite added 187.83 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 15,832.80.

Back home, ten of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading hihgher led by the Nifty Oil & Gas index's nearly 1 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Media, PSU Bank and Private Bank indices also rose around 0.5 per cent each.

On the other hand, Nifty IT, FMCG, Pharma, Healthcare and Consumer Durable indices were trading lower.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.2 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.2 per cent.

ONGC was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock rose 3.4 per cent to Rs 148. Power Grid, NTPC, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Indian Oil, Reliance Industries, SBI Life, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto, JSW Steel and ITC were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Motors, HCL Technologies, Shree Cements, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Cipla, Sun Pharma and UPL were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,867 shares were advancing while 1,107 were declinining on the BSE.