Benchmark indices closed higher on Wednesday as IT stocks rallied amid weak global cues. Sensex ended 134 points higher at 52,904 and Nifty advanced 41.60 points to 15,853.
Top Sensex gainer was Tech Mahindra rising over 2 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, Infosys, L&T, Tata Steel and ITC.
Maruti, HUL, Nestle India and Dr Reddy’s were among the top Sensex losers falling up to 1.32%.
BSE mid cap and small cap indices rose 48 points and 62 points, respectively.
IT stocks led the gains ahead of Infosys’ Q1 earnings with the BSE IT index surging 660 points to 30,053. Infosys share closed 2.07% or Rs 32 higher at Rs 1,576 against previous close of Rs 1,544.90.
BSE capital goods index also climbed 207 points to 23,275.
Market cap of BSE listed firms rose to Rs 233.06 lakh crore. Market breadth was positive with 1,797 shares rising against 1,444 falling on BSE.
Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas said, “Nifty has recently broken out from a triangular pattern on the hourly chart and is witnessing follow through on the upside. For the day, the upside was capped at the hourly and the daily upper Bollinger Bands.
The overall structure shows that the index is once again staring at the upper end of the consolidation range i.e. 15,900. The bulls need to cross this barrier on a closing basis in order to confirm the next leg up, which will then take the index to 16,400 in the short term. On the flip side, 15,800-15,750 will act as a cushion in the case of any dip with major support at 15,650-15,600.”
Meanwhile, the rupee fell 10 paise to close at 74.59 against the US dollar.
The domestic currency opened at 74.57 at the interbank foreign exchange market. On Tuesday, the rupee had closed at 74.49 against the US dollar.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo ended with losses.
Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading in the red in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.82 per cent to $75.86 per barrel.
