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The Sensex and Nifty ended the session marginally higher on the back of an upbeat start to the corporate earnings season and ahead of quarterly results from major banks.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 21.98 points or 0.08 points at 27,257.64 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up 19 points or 0.23 per cent at 8,417.
Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index gained the most by 2.27 per cent, followed by consumer durables 0.71 per cent, capital goods 0.63 per cent and banking 0.53 per cent. On the other hand, oil & gas index was down 0.21 per cent, TECk 0.02 per cent and PSU 0.01 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Tata Steel (+2.95%), HUL (+2.86%), ONGC (+1.51%), M&M (+0.87%) and TCS (+0.76%), while the major losers were NTPC (-1.65%), GAIL (-1.37%), Hero MotoCorp (-1.37%), Bharti Airtel (-1.21%) and Bajaj Auto (-0.94%).
Bank stocks gain
Financial stocks gained on an upbeat start to the earnings season and ahead of quarterly results from major banks.
The Nifty Bank index hit its highest in two months, with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank leading the gains.
The Nifty Bank index gained as much as 1.1 per cent to hit its highest since November 17, 2016. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank gained nearly 1 per cent.
Axis Bank and YES Bank are scheduled to report earnings on Thursday.
Quarterly earnings
“December quarter earnings as a whole have been mostly in-line or better than expected barring the IT sector,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research equities at Centrum Wealth.
“Going forward, market maybe expecting things to be relatively better or at least expects no major negative surprises in numbers especially in relation to the larger financials who are index heavyweights,” Khemka said.
The government's annual budget is due on February 1 and investors hope for incentives to support an economy hit by cash shortages after a ban on higher-value banknotes.
Asian markets
Asian stock markets held near three-month highs on Wednesday as investors scooped up exporter shares after US President-elect Donald Trump expressed concerns over a stronger dollar.
In Asia, MSCI’s ex-Japan Asia-Pacific shares index rose 0.3 per cent, just shy of a three-month high hit last Thursday. Stock markets in Hong Kong and China led the gains.
US stocks fell on Tuesday, with financials, transports and other big post-election gainers losing ground as earnings season kicked into gear.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 58.96 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 19,826.77, the S&P 500 lost 6.75 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 2,267.89 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 35.39 points, or 0.63 per cent, to5,538.73.
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