The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Wednesday a day after the country's economic growth expanded at record 20.1 per cent in April-June, the first quarter of financial year, compared with the same period a year earlier, driven mainly by manufacturing and construction, the statistics ministry said on Tuesday.
The Sensex rose as much as 214 points to hit record high of 57,765.92 and Nifty 50 index touched an all-time high of 17,187.As of 27 am, the Sensex was up 176 points at 57,728.57 and Nifty 50 index advanced 50 points to 17,182.Meanwhile, Asian shares gave up some of their recent gains in cautious trading on Wednesday while the dollar inched back from three-week lows, as worries about slowing global growth in several markets returned to weigh on traders' minds.Back home, thirteen of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Bank index's 1 per cent gain.
Nifty Private Bank, PSU Bank, Realty, Consumer Durables, Oil - Gas and Media indices also rose between 0.5-1.4 per cent.On the other hand, metal and IT shares were witnessing a mild selling pressure.Mid- and small-cap shares were witnessing mild buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.6 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.3 per cent.Axis Bank was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose nearly 4 per cent to Rs 815.
Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, Eicher Motors, Larsen - Toubro, IndusInd Bank, Nestle India, Bajaj Finance, SBI Life, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever and UltraTech Cement also rose between 0.85-2.8 per cent.On the flipside, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, Hindalco, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, Mahindra - Mahindra, Coal India, Adani Ports, Indian Oil and HCL Technologies were among the losers.The overall market breadth was positive as 1,688 shares were advancing while 874 were declining on the BSE.