Indian equity benchmarks began the last trading session of the November futures & option (F&O) series in the green, led by gains in financial, IT and FMCG shares, mirroring strength across global markets after Fed minutes hinted at less aggressive hikes in benchmark interest rates soon.
Both benchmark indices rose as much as 0.3 percent in the first few minutes of trade. The Sensex gained 194 points to touch 61,704.6 at the strongest level of the day so far, and the Nifty50 climbed to as high as 18,327, up 59.8 points from its previous close.
Barring four stocks, ITC, ONGC, ICICI Bank and Adani Ports, which were flat, all of the Nifty50's constituents began the day in the green.
Reliance, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, HDFC Bank and Infosys were the biggest boosts for both main gauges. Gains across sectors backed the upmove in the market.
"The US market construct of rising equity, falling bond yields and a falling dollar continues to favour the bulls. Additionally, for India, steadily falling crude oil prices are another positive... In India, macroeconomic news confirms the resilience of the economy with investment gaining momentum," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Overall market breadth favoured the bulls, as 928 stocks rose and 538 fell in early deals on BSE.
The rupee inched higher to 81.72 against the US dollar.
Global markets
Equities in other Asian markets tracked Wall Street higher. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.8 percent at the last count. Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 1.2 percent.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.2 percent. On Wednesday, the three main US indices finished 0.3-1 percent higher.
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