Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty opened higher on Wednesday, tracking gains across Asian markets amid rising hopes of a US Federal Reserve rate cut later this month.
The 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 354.57 points to 82,384.55, while the NSE Nifty rose 109.55 points to 25,255.05 in early trade.
Among the top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics, Bajaj Finserv, and Power Grid, while Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Infosys, and Titan were among the major laggards.
Across Asia, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225, Shanghai’s SSE Composite, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng traded in the green. Meanwhile, US markets closed on a mixed note overnight.
“Fed Chair Jerome Powell cautioned that the sharp slowdown in hiring poses risks to the US economy, signalling the possibility of two more rate cuts this year,” said Jigar Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
In commodities, Brent crude slipped 0.19% to USD 62.27 per barrel.
On the institutional front, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,508.53 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3,661.13 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.
A day earlier, the Sensex had declined 297.07 points (0.36%) to 82,029.98, and the Nifty fell 81.85 points (0.32%) to 25,145.50.
