Benchmark indices rose for the third consecutive session, trading over 1 per cent higher during the afternoon on Wednesday.
The market opened on a positive note, tracking strong global cues. A fall in crude oil prices and another round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine aided investor sentiments, as per analysts. Indices extended gains in the first half amid broad-based buying, led by auto and financials.
At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading at 58,546.18, up 602.53 points or 1.04 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 58,656.27 and a low of 58,176.00. The Nifty 50 was trading at 17,475.20, up 149.90 points or 0.87 per cent. It breached the 17,500 mark intraday with a day’s high of 17,513.90. It recorded an intraday low of 17,387.20.
Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consumer, Bajaj Finance, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC Life were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while ONGC, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Tech Mahindra and Tata Steel were the top losers.
Metals lose shine
On the sectoral front, all indices except Nifty Metal, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare Index, were in the green. Financials, auto, realty, IT and FMCG recorded higher gains.
Nifty Metal was down 1.75 per cent.
Meanwhile, Nifty Realty was up nearly 2 per cent. Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Auto each were up over 1 per cent. Nifty PSU Bank was up 0.81 per cent. Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG were trading 0.71 per cent and 0.78 per cent higher, respectively.
Broader indices
Broader indices were also in the green.
Nifty Midcap 50 was up 0.82 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 1.04 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.73 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 1.33 per cent.
The volatility index softened 3.70 per cent to 20.51.