Sensex rises over 150 points, Nifty tops 19,300; Bajaj Consumer Care, Delta Corp jump up to 8%

Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in Wednesday's early deals, led by gains across all sectors. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack rose 159 points or 0.25 per cent to trade at 64,730, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 47 points or 0.24 per cent up to trade at 19,328. Mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.54 per cent and small-cap gained 1.35 per cent. India VIX, fear index, was up 1.42% to 11.06-level.

On, the global front, Asian markets were up 1 per cent today. Overnight, Wall Street equities settle higher, boosted by strong quarterly results.

US Treasury yields eased from multi-year highs ahead of the release of its GDP data and a key inflation metric.

In addition, Brent crude futures extended losses for the third session in a row, easing to $88 per barrel. A fall in oil prices is a positive for importers of the commodity like India.

Back home, both foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were buyers in Indian shares during the previous session, adding Rs 252 crore and Rs 1,112 crore, respectively, on a net basis.

"The uncertainties associated with the Israel-Hamas conflict will continue to weigh on markets in the near-term. Positive news like decline in the US bond yields and weakening crude can help the market to revive but it may not sustain given the uncertainty surrounding the West Asian conflict. Investors may opt for a cautious approach to the market till some clarity emerges on the geopolitical situation," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

All 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Metal and Nifty PSU Bank were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.65 per cent and 1.64 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Hindalco Ltd was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock jumped 2.57 per cent to trade at Rs 468.45. LTI Mindtree, Tata Steel, HCL Tech and Wipro climbed up to 1.39 per cent.

In contrast, Divi's Labs, Apollo Hospitals, Cipla, HDFC Life and SBI Life were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,565 shares were advancing while 551 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Infosys, Reliance Industries, L&T and Bajaj Finance were among the top gainers.

Also, Bajaj Consumer Care, Delta Corp Ltd, Sequent, Triveni and NIIT surged up to 8.07 per cent. On the flipside, MMTC, Mahindra Logistics, Welspun India, Jai Corp and Max Health slipped up to 4.99 per cent.

Nifty outlook

"Nifty's plunge was timed out in the previous trade, just short of the 19,230 mark pencilled in for the day. This encourages us to look for mean reversion up moves, but it will require a push beyond 19,425 to signal the retreat of bears. We hope that the 19,230 holds meanwhile, as there is little else, except perhaps for 19,050, to restrain the index from sliding all the way till 18,600, the 200-DMA (Day Moving Average)," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Also read: Stocks in news: RIL, Lupin, Shakti Pumps, BHEL, Future Consumer and more