Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Mar 9: The Indian equity indices started the day higher on Wednesday, with advances in information technology and pharmaceutical firms leading the way.
As crude oil prices rose, global stock markets plummeted, owing to the United States’ ban on Russian oil and other energy imports in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Crude rose much higher, reaching the $131-per-barrel milestone.
Back home, the benchmark BSE Sensex was up 454 points, or 0.85 percent, at 53,878 as of 10:11 a.m., while the broader NSE Nifty was up 117 points, or 0.74 percent, at 16,131.
Mid- and small-cap stocks were trading higher, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index rising 0.94 percent and small-cap stocks up 1.44 percent.
The National Stock Exchange’s 15 sector indicators were trading in the green, with 12 of them. The Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma sectors outperformed the index, climbing 1.30 and 1.35 percent, respectively. The Nifty Metal Index dropped 0.75 percent.
On a stock-by-stock basis, Adani Ports was the highest gainer on the Nifty, rising 2.20 percent to 704. Among the winners were Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, and Maruti Suzuki India.
On the BSE, the overall market breadth was marginally positive, with 2,208 shares rising and 441 falling.
TechM, Maruti, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Dr Reddy’s, and Hindustan Unilever were among the top gainers on the 30-share BSE index. PowerGrid, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Nestle India, on the other hand, were all in the red.
In the previous trading session, both indices had halted a four-day losing skid. In tumultuous trading on Tuesday, the Sensex rose 581 points, or 1.10 percent, to close at 53,424 points, while the Nifty rose 150 points, or 0.95 percent, to close at 16,013.
