By Ajay Vaishnav IST (Published)
Mini
The Sensex traded over 314 points higher, or 0.78 percent, at 40,784 at 1.05 pm.
Indian benchmark equity indices, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, extended gains on Wednesday afternoon, led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, telecom stocks and state-run downstream companies.
Investor sentiment remained bullish as the Modi government gave an ‘in-principle’ approval for strategic disinvestment of 28 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) including National Project construction corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Rural Electrification Corporation Limited and Cement Corporation of India.
The decision was conveyed by Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The Sensex traded over 314 points higher, or 0.78 percent, at 40,784 at 1.05 pm. The benchmark 30-share S&P BSE frontline index opened at 40,730 and hit the life-time high of 40,816 in session today.
The Nifty50 also rose almost 90 points, or 0.75 percent, to trade at 12,030. The broader 50-share NSE index hit the day's high at 12,038.55 so far.
Broader market indices lagged behind with the Nifty MidCap 100 index trading 0.36 percent higher, while the SmallCap 100 index was up 0.28 percent. Among sectoral gauges, only IT and realty traded lower, while media, metal, pharma and private banks advanced the most. Both media and pharma rose over 3 percent.
Among gainers, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, BPCL and Reliance Industries rose between 3 and 6 percent. Bharti Infratel, Indian Oil Corp, Eicher Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India shares fell by up to 3.43 percent.
Shares of Vodafone Idea rose 22 percent, while those of Bharti Airtel rose 1.3 percent. Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) surged as much as 4 percent intraday on Wednesday after its telecom arm Reliance Jio said that it will increase tariffs in the next few weeks. The increase in RIL share price pushed the oil-telecom-retail conglomerate's market capital closer towards the Rs 10 lakh crore mark.
The Vodafone Idea stock has gained as much as 169.5 percent, rising from Rs 2.9 on November 15 to Rs 7.4 currently.
Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rose 3 percent as global brokerage Credit Suisse said the share buyback being done by the company's arm Taro Pharmaceutical could be the penultimate step before delisting Taro Pharma from NYSE.
Reliance Capital shares were locked in 5 percent lower circuit on Wednesday, quoting at Rs 18.05 apiece, as the Anil-Ambani-led firm lost control of its wholly-owned insurance subsidiary, Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd.
In the currency market, the rupee opened on a weak note and fell 9 paise to 71.80 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday amid lingering concerns over US-China trade deal. At 1.17 pm, the home currency traded at 71.77.
Meanwhile, Asian shares lost out to safe-harbour bonds on Wednesday as Sino-US trade talks produced nothing but white noise, while concerns about a supply glut left oil prices nursing their biggest one-day loss in seven weeks.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng traded 0.74 percent lower, while Taiwan Weighted slipped 0.22 percent. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.62 percent in trade.
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