Firm Asian cues lift equity indices; Sensex gains over 200 points

Broadly positive Asian cues lifted the key Indian equity indices on Wednesday afternoon, with the barometer Sensex of the BSE gaining over 200 points so far.

According to analysts, banking, consumer durables and metal stocks witnessed healthy buying activity.

At 1.18 p.m., the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded at 10,765.80 points, up 55.35 points or 0.52 per cent from the previous close of 10,710.45 points.

Similarly, the BSE Sensex, which had opened at 35,329.61 points, traded at 35,524.02 points (1.20 p.m.) -- up 237.28 points or 0.67 per cent -- from its previous session's close of 35,286.74 points.

The Sensex has so far touched a high of 35,525.99 points and a low of 35,329.51 points. The BSE market breadth was tilted towards the bulls with 1,288 advances against 1,143 declines so far.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta, Reliance Industries, Yes Bank, Axis Banks and IndusInd Bank whereas Coal India, ONGC, ITC, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and Wipro were the major losers.

On the NSE, Reliance Industries, Vedanta and Zee Entertainment were the highest gainers while UPL, Coal India and Indian Oil Corp lost the most.

--IANS

rrb/mr