Sensex Rises 180 Points, Nifty Above 24,900; GAIL Up 4%

Benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex had a positive start on Wednesday.

BSE Sensex opened nearly 200 points or 0.24 per cent higher at 81,655.90 levels while Nifty50 jumped 29 points or 0.1 per cent higher to 24,886.70 levels.

Maruti Suzuki, NTPC were the top gainers while Axis Bank, Power Grid were the top laggards on BSE.

Similarly, on NSE, Asian Paints, Hindalco were the top gainers while Power Grid, Tata Consumer were the top laggards.

Broader markets were mixed. Nifty SmallCap fell 0.33 per cent while MidCap was trading 0.27 per cent higher.

Sectorally, Nifty Consumer Durable and Pharma led with over 0.6 per cent gains each. FMCG, meanwhile, rose 0.5 per cent.

Global Cues

In the Asia-Pacific region, markets showed mixed performance ahead of key announcements, including the Bank of Japan’s rate decision and business activity data from China. The Nikkei declined 0.86 per cent, while the Kospi and ASX200 saw gains of 0.52 per cent and 0.64 per cent, respectively.

In the US as well, markets were mixed as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s decision. The Nasdaq fell 1.28 per cent, the S&P 500 decreased 0.50 per cent, while the Dow Jones rose 0.50 per cent.