Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in early deals on Wednesday, with the Sensex rising nearly 300 points and the Nifty reclaiming the 23,300 mark, supported by gains in Reliance Industries, banking stocks and select FMCG counters.

At 9:16 am, the BSE Sensex was up 288.6 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 74,207.4, while the NSE Nifty50 gained 74.7 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 23,316.8. Market breadth remained positive, with advancing shares outnumbering declines on the NSE.

Investor sentiment remained resilient despite escalating tensions in West Asia, with crude oil prices staying relatively contained.

Reliance, Banking Stocks Drive Market Gains

Reliance Industries emerged as the biggest contributor to the benchmark rally, with its shares rising 1.4 per cent. Financial stocks also supported the upmove, with HDFC Bank gaining 0.5 per cent and State Bank of India advancing 0.6 per cent.

Other major gainers on the Nifty included Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Unilever, Bharat Electronics, Larsen & Toubro, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Apollo Hospitals.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty FMCG index led gains with a rise of 0.55 per cent. Banking stocks also remained firm, with the Nifty Bank index up 0.22 per cent and the PSU Bank index gaining 0.3 per cent.

Infrastructure, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, media and private banking shares also traded in positive territory.

On the other hand, the Nifty Metal index slipped 0.74 per cent, making it the worst-performing sector in early trade. Auto stocks traded marginally lower, while gains in the broader market remained subdued. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rose 0.06 per cent and 0.33 per cent, respectively.

IT And Metal Stocks Under Pressure

Hindalco Industries emerged as the top loser on the Nifty, falling nearly 2 per cent. Infosys, which turned ex-dividend on Wednesday, declined 1.6 per cent as its share price adjusted to reflect the payout.

Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies also traded lower, dragging the IT pack. Other laggards included Bajaj Finserv, Shriram Finance, SBI Life Insurance, Tata Consumer Products, Sun Pharma and Tata Steel.

Market experts said investors appeared to be treating the latest geopolitical developments in West Asia as a temporary event.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, said the softness in crude oil prices suggested that markets were not pricing in a prolonged disruption.

“The market is likely to largely ignore the escalation of the conflict in West Asia as a one-off. The softness in crude price indicates that. Despite the escalation, Brent crude continues to trade below USD 93 a barrel,” he said.

Analysts See Scope For Further Pullback

According to Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, the market has formed a short-term reversal pattern after finding support near the 23,100 mark on the Nifty.

He said 23,100 on the Nifty, corresponding to around 73,500 on the Sensex, would remain a crucial support level.

“As long as the market stays above these levels, the pullback could extend towards the 23,450-23,500 zone on the Nifty and 74,500-74,700 on the Sensex,” Chouhan said.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee opened weaker by 19 paise at 95.54 against the US dollar, compared with its previous close of 95.35.

Despite continued caution among foreign institutional investors owing to valuations, analysts believe near-term sentiment remains supported by stable oil prices and improving technical indicators.

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