SENSEX, NIFTY50 edge higher led by gains in ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries

The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Wednesday, September 30, as crude oil prices softened in international markets as investors focused on signs of recovering crude exports from the Middle East.

The SENSEX rose as much as 212 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 22,737 led by gains in the index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India. However, the gains were capped owing to weakness in HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports and Bajaj Finance.

As of 9:27 am, the SENSEX was up 170 points or 0.2% at 72,699 and NIFTY50 index advanced 20 points to 22,734.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note as Japan's Nikkei advanced 1%, China's Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.13%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.08% and South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.5%.

Back home, 10 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY IT index's nearly 2% gain, NIFTY Media, Auto, Bank, PSU Bank, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Private Bank indices also rose between 0.4% and 1.95%.

On the other hand, metal, pharma, healthcare and financial services shares were facing selling pressure.

The broader markets were outperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.75% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index gained 0.85%.

Tata Consultancy Services was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 2.6% to ₹2,085. Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, InterGlobe Aviation, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Ultratech Cement and Reliance Industries also rose between 1% and 2.5%.

On the flip side, Max Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals, BSE, Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises, Dr Reddy's Labs, SBI Life, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank and HDFC Life were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,163 shares were advancing while 863 were declining on the NSE.