The Indian equity benchmarks advanced on Thursday ahead of weekly expiry of index futures n option contracts due later in the day led by gains in ITC, HDFC Bank, ICIC Bank, HDFC, Power Grid and Bajaj Finance. The Sensex rose as much as 176 points to hit an intraday high of 54,702 and Nifty 50 index was trading firmly above 16,300 levels. Investor sentiment got a boost after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the country's economic growth is picking up pace again and the domestic industry needs to enhance its risk-taking appetite, analysts said.
As of 9:24 am, the Sensex was up 111 points at 54,636 and Nifty 50 index rose 36 points to 16,318.
Meanwhile, Asian shares failed to follow a strong close on Wall Street with fears about the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus weighing on sentiment even as tame US inflation eased fears the Federal Reserve would rush to reduce its economic support.
Back home, 10 of fifteen sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Auto index's 0.6 per cent gain. Media, Metal, IT, PSU Bank and FMCG shares were also witnessing a mild buying interest.
On the other hand, Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Pharma, Private Bank and Healthcare indices were trading with a negative bias.
Mid- and small-cap bounced back after two days of selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.6 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed nearly 1 per cent.
Power Grid was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose nearly 3 per cent to Rs 181 after the company approved a proposal to infuse fresh equity up to Rs 425 crore in Energy Efficiency Services (EESL), a joint venture company of Power Grid, NTPC, PFC and REC.
Shree Cements, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Adani Ports, Coal India and Larsen & Toubro were also among the gainers.
On the flipside, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Britannia Industries, State Bank of India, Divi's Labs, Bajaj Finserv and Hindustan Unilever were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,872 shares were advancing while 725 were declining on the BSE.