Sensex rises over 300 points, Nifty near 25,900 led by Infosys, HDFC Bank

The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Tuesday led by gains in Infosys , HDFC Bank , Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra and ICICI Bank amid mixed cues from Asian markets. The Sensex rose as much as 348 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 25,905.

As of 9:20 am, the Sensex was up 298 points at 84,598 and Nifty 50 index advanced 80 points to 25,890.

Most of the Asian markets were trading lower. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.51 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI fell 2.11 per cent, Taiwan Weighted declined 2.62 per cent and Singapore's Starits Times declined 0.2 per cent. China's stock markets were shut for a week on account of holiday.

Overnight, the S&P 500 sputtered to a record high close on Monday, rebounding from a brief setback after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank is in no hurry to implement further interest rate cuts.

The Dow also posted an all-time closing high. The three major US stock indexes registered gains for the quarter and for the month.

Back home, buying was visible across board as nine of 13 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty IT index's 0.6 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, PSU Bank and Private Bank indices also rose between 0.3-0.6 per cent.

On the other hand, metal, FMCG, media and healthcare shares were facing selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a mixed note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.02 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 0.47 per cent.

Tech Mahindra was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 3.72 per cent to Rs 1,635. Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, Infosys , Wipro , Coal India, Axis Bank , Kotak Mahindra Bank and Hero MotoCorp also rose between 0.5-1.2 per cent.

On the flipside, Asian Paints , JSW Steel , Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki , Hindustan Unilever , Titan, Tata Steel and Bajaj Finance were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,027 shares were advancing while 900 were declining on the BSE.

(With Reuters inputs)