Sensex rises advances 100 points in early trade; Nifty above 15,200; HDFC, Reliance Industries lead gains

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 100 points in opening trade on Wednesday, led by gains in index majors HDFC, Reliance Industries and Infosys amid a largely positive trend in Asian markets.The 30-share BSE index was trading 125.76 points or 0.25 percent higher at 50,763.29, and the broader NSE Nifty advanced 25.75 points or 0.17 percent to 15,234.20.Titan was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, advancing nearly 2 percent, followed by Sun Pharma, M&M, L&T, Bajaj Finserv, HUL and Asian Paints.On the other hand, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech and Kotak Bank were among the laggards.In the previous session, Sensex settled 14.37 points or 0.03 percent lower at50,637.53, while Nifty inched up 10.75 points or 0.07 percent to 15,208.45.Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 959.77 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional exchange data."A sharp drop in daily caseload in the second wave (remaining below 2 lakhs for two days) and improvement in recovery rates have already emboldened investors in the last one week. Further, robust 4QFY21 earnings and favourable commentaries from companies' managements also aided to lift sentiments," said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.US equities ended with marginal decline as weaker-than-expected reading on consumer confidence data weighed on sentiments, he said.Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals, while Seoul was in the red. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.23 percent lower at $68.33 per barrel.