Sensex rises over 250 points in early trade, Nifty tops 17,450; Brightcom Group, Vaibhav Global jump up to 10%

Indian equity benchmarks rose in early trade on Wednesday, led by gains in banks, financials, consumer durables and energy stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 253 points or 0.43 per cent to 59,360, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 70 points or 0.40 per cent lower to trade at 17,468. Mid- and small-cap shares were mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 slipped 0.11 per cent and small-cap rose 0.52 per cent.

However, inflation concerns may keep investors cautious a day ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) monetary policy decision. The Reserve Bank is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points (bps) on Thursday.

Also, the recent rise in crude oil prices after a surprise supply cut by Saudi Arabia and other oil exporting countries has added to inflationary concerns, especially for countries like India, where crude constitutes a major chunk of the country's import bill. On the global front, Asian shares were mixed.

"The MPC decision tomorrow is unlikely to spring any surprises. A 25 bps hike in rates and continuation of the stance of withdrawal of accommodation is the most likely outcome. The coming days will witness lots of stock-specific action in response to Q4 results. The market would be keenly watching the guidance from IT majors," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Nine out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty OIl & Gas were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.20 per cent, 0.71 per cent, 0.39 per cent and 0.41 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Brightcom Group was the top Nifty gainer as the stock surged 10 per cent to Rs 17.71. Elgi Equipment, Vaibhav Global and CreditAccess Grameen soared up to 6.96 per cent. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank) and ONGC rose up to 3.38 per cent.

The overall market breadth was strong as 1,788 shares were declining while 860 were advancing on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC twins, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, ÌTC, L&T, Titan, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top gainers.

In contrast, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), HCL Tech, M&M and Hindustan Unilever were trading in the red. Also, Federal Bank, Sonata Software, Adani Transmission, SunTeck Realty, JK Cement and Bharat Dynamics fell up to 2.81 per cent.

Sensex had settled 115 points or 0.19 per cent higher at 59,106 on Monday, while Nifty had moved 38 points or 0.22 per cent higher to close at 17,398. The domestic benchmarks were closed on Tuesday due to 'Mahavir Jayanti'.

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