Sensex rallies 353 pts; Nifty reclaims 11,000 level

BSE benchmark Sensex rallied 353 points on Wednesday, driven by gains in index heavyweights ICICI Bank, RIL, HDFC and Infosys amid positive Asian cues.

Easing inflation numbers too helped the recovery in domestic market sentiment, traders said.

After surging 515 points during the session, the 30-share Sensex settled 353.37 points or 0.96 per cent higher at 37,311.53. It hit an intra-day high of 37,473.61 and a low of 37,000.77.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty reclaimed the 11,000 mark, jumping 103.55 points or 0.95 per cent to 11,029.40. During the day, it hit a high of 11,078.15 and a low of 10,935.60.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Vedanta, Tata Steel, Yes Bank, Tech Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp, Bharti Airtel, SBI and Bajaj Finance and IndusInd Bank, which rose up to 4.83 per cent.

However, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Kotak Bank, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, HCL Tech and NTPC ended up to 4.58 per cent lower.

Besides positive cues from other Asian markets, investor sentiment got a boost as easing retail and wholesale inflation left room for the Reserve Bank to go for another round of rate cut in October, experts said.

While retail inflation eased marginally to 3.15 per cent in July, wholesale inflation fell to a two-and-half-year low of 1.08 per cent, government data showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hang Seng, Kospi, Shanghai Composite Index and Nikkei rebounded after US President Donald Trump delayed tariffs on electronic goods from China, assuaging investor concerns over the US-China trade war.

Equities in Europe, on the other hand, were trading in the red in early deals after Germany's economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in the three months to June, hinting at a looming global recession.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee appreciated 13 paise to 71.27 against the US dollar intra-day.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.83 per cent to USD 60.79 per barrel.