Sensex, Nifty trade marginally higher; selling in IT stocks restrict further uptrend

Mumbai, Mar 19 (PTI) Stock markets began the trade on a positive note on Wednesday tracking firm trends in Asian equities and fresh foreign fund inflows.

Selling in blue-chip IT stocks, however, put some pressure on the markets as the benchmark indices turned volatile later in the trade.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 172.43 points to 75,473.69 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 54 points to 22,888.30.

Later, the BSE benchmark gauge quoted 49.35 points higher at 75,350.61, and the Nifty traded 35.45 points up at 22,867.65.

From the Sensex pack, Zomato, Tata Steel, NTPC, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Adani Ports and Bharti Airtel were among the major gainers.

However, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and Sun Pharma were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory, while Shanghai quoted lower.

US markets ended in the negative zone on Tuesday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Tuesday as they bought equities worth Rs 694.57 crore, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DII) also bought equities worth Rs 2,534.75 crore.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.30 per cent to USD 70.35 a barrel.

The Sensex jumped 1,131.31 points or 1.53 per cent to settle at 75,301.26 on Tuesday. The Nifty surged 325.55 points or 1.45 per cent to 22,834.30. PTI SUM DR

Source: PTI