SENSEX rises over 200 points, NIFTY50 above 23,850 led by ICICI Bank, Infosys

The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Wednesday, June 24, led by gains in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy Services and State Bank of India. The SENSEX rose as much as 221 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 23,885 amid mixed cues from Asian markets.

As of 9:24 am, the SENSEX was up 194 points at 76,395 and NIFTY50 index advanced 41 points to 23,867.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note as Japan's Nikkei fell 0.4%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.25%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.03% and South Korea's KOSPI surged 3% after falling 10% in the previous session.

Investor sentiment was shaken after big tech companies came under selling pressure as investors who had jumped on the bandwagon in the AI space appear to be having second thoughts.

Tech heavy Nasdaq index dropped 2.2%, Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.09% and S&P 500 index fell 2.21%.

Back home, 11 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY Private Bank index's 0.7% gain. NIFTY IT, Bank, Financial Services, PSU Bank, Realty, Healthcare and Pharma indices also rose between 0.4% and 0.7%.

On the flip side, auto, consumer durables, metal and media shares were facing selling pressure.

Broader markets were trading on a flat note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.1% while NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declined 0.1%.

Dr Reddy's Labs was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 2.86% to ₹1,338. Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Trent, Infosys, Adani Enterprises, Apollo Hospitals, Asian Paints and Power Grid also rose between 1% and 2.5%.

On the flipside, Bajaj Auto, SBI Life, HDFC Life, Maruti Suzuki, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Bharti Airtel and NTPC were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,470 shares were advancing while 1,310 were declining on the NSE.