Mumbai: Equity benchmarks on Wednesday continued to trade higher, with the Sensex breaching the crucial 60,000 mark in early trade amid positive global trends and persistent foreign fund inflows. The Sensex crossed the 60,000 mark after 4 months.
The 30-share BSE benchmark index was trading 141.62 points higher at 59,983.83 in early deals. Soon, it jumped to 60,008.11 points, higher by 165.9 points.
The broader NSE Nifty climbed 48.25 points to 17,873.50 points.
"India's growth story looks brighter in the current world economic scenario. Investors, especially foreign institutional segment, is upbeat about the current outlook. Inflation here is getting under control and rupee may become stronger. So FIIs are looking at India as the best alternative to the weak peers," said a senior market analyst with a foreign brokerage, who requested not to be identified.
From the Sensex pack, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries and Bajaj Finserv were the biggest gainers.
On the other hand, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HDFC and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.
In Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted higher while Seoul was trading lower in mid-session deals.
Markets on the Wall Street had ended mostly higher on Tuesday.
The BSE benchmark index advanced 379.43 points or 0.64 per cent to settle at 59,842.21 points on Tuesday. The Nifty climbed 127.10 points or 0.72 per cent to 17,825.25 points.
Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.5 per cent higher at USD 92.83 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the Indian capital market as they bought shares worth Rs 1,376.84 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said that helping investor sentiments will be the bullish FIIs who have bought shares to the tune of Rs 16,219 crore so far in August.
