Sensex rises over 100 pts in early trade; Nifty near 18,300

Sensex rises over 100 pts in early trade; Nifty near 18,300

Equity benchmark Sensex advanced over 100 points in early trade on Wednesday tracking gains in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Asian Paints.

The 30-share index was trading 106.71 points or 0.17 per cent higher at 61,456.97 in initial deals. Similarly, the Nifty advanced 26.70 points or 0.15 per cent to 18,295.10.

Asian Paints was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 6 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, Dr Reddy’s and TCS.

On the other hand, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra and IndusInd Bank were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the 30-share index ended 383.21 points or 0.63 per cent higher at 61,350.26, while Nifty surged 143 points or 0.79 per cent to 18,268.40.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,368.66 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.

High input costs have adversely impacted margins and profitability of select consumer and manufacturing companies despite steady volume and sales growth, said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.