Sensex rallies 479 points; Nifty above 17,468 level

Mumbai:  Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty rallied for the third day in a row on Wednesday, with the BSE barometer jumping nearly 479 points in early trade, helped by buying in HDFC twins and ICICI Bank as well as favourable trends in global equities amid progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

The 30-share BSE barometer was trading 478.76 points higher at 58,422.41.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty jumped 142.85 points to 17,468.15.

Among the 30-share pack, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv and ICICI Bank were among the lead gainers in early trade.

On the other hand, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s, NTPC and Titan were the laggards.

In the previous trade, the BSE benchmark had jumped 350.16 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 57,943.65. The NSE Nifty gained 103.30 points or 0.60 per cent to settle at 17,325.30.

Elsewhere in Asia, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green, while Tokyo quoted lower during mid-session deals.

Stock exchanges in the US ended with gains on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.66 per cent to USD 111.03 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 35.47 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.

“US equities extended gains and closed higher as Russia-Ukraine peace talks reinstated optimism among investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 per cent. The S&P 500 index jumped 1.2 per cent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite increased 1.8 per cent,” Mitul Shah, Head of Research at Reliance Securities, said.