NEW DELHI: Indian shares rose for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, underpinned by gains in bank, IT, capital goods and consumer durables stocks, tracking global stocks that edged up on a rally in oil stocks.European energy stocks spurred after the US President Donald Trump said the US will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, which may be disruptive for oil supplies.
Crude oil surged to its highest level since late 2014 at $77 a barrel on supply worries.Sensex registered a negative opening on Wednesday and traded in the lower terrain in the early hours of trade.
However, the index built on gains in the afternoon session and rose 188 points to touch the intraday high of 35,404.83.
It cooled off a bit later and finished at 35,319, up by 103 points, or 0.29 per cent.
Overall, 16 stocks settled in the green in the Sensex index, compared with 15 stocks that closed in the red.The Nifty50 added 24 points, or 0.22 per cent, to settle at 10,742, with 25 stocks rising and 25 falling.Meanwhile, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices remained in the negative zone on Wednesday, falling 0.63 per cent and 0.13 per cent, respectively.
Tata Motors finished the day with a gain of 2.79 per cent, leading the pack of Sensex gainers.
The stock got a boost as Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sales grew at an annual 11.90 per cent to 45,180 units for April.Asian Paints, Tata Consultancy Services, Axis Bank and YES Bank too featured in the pack of Sensex gainers.Shares of graphite electrode player HEG surged over 8 per cent after the company on Tuesday posted a net profit of Rs 634.01 crore for the March quarter against a net loss of Rs 3.42 crore in the same period last year.
Shares of Sintex Industries rallied over 8 per cent on Wednesday after the company posted 16 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit at Rs 57.42 crore for the quarter ended March 2018.
PC Jeweller on Wednesday climbed 3 per cent ahead of its board meet on Friday on a share buyback proposal.On the other side of the spectrum, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank and Maruti Suzuki remained the top losers in the Sensex kitty of stocks.Power, utilities, healthcare and FMCG indices remained under pressure on Wednesday, whereas IT, energy, capital goods, consumer durables and TECK saw buying interests.As many as 79 stocks hit fresh 52-week highs on BSE, compared with 142 stocks that hit fresh 52-week lows.The overall market breadth remained negative as 1,176 stocks gained on BSE, but 1,507 suffered losses.Among Asian peers, Shanghai SE Composite Index and Nikkei 225 closed in the red, while Hang Seng remained in the green.