NEW DELHI: Defying the bullish trend, over 30 stocks, including Adhunik Industries, Ballarpur Industries, Nagarjuna Oil Refinery, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) and Uttam Galva Steels hit fresh 52-week lows on NSE in Wednesday's trade.

On the other hand, 26 stocks hit fresh 52-week highs that included Adani Transmission, Avanti Feeds, GAIL (India), Gillette India, Goa Carbon and Phillips Carbon Black.

Equity benchmarks traded in the positive territory, backed by pharma, realty, FMCG and auto stocks.

Benchmark Nifty50 index was 55 points up at 9,915, while the 30-share Sensex was 184 points up at 31,682 around 12.55 pm (IST).

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Nifty Pharma index was up by 2 per cent, with Sun Pharma, Cadila and Aurobindo Pharma gaining up to 3 per cent.

In the FMCG space, ITC and Godrej Consumer Products gained up to 3 per cent.

Auto majors Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto were gaining in trade on a rate cut in excise duty.

Metal stocks, however, pared some gains. JSW Steel, Nalco, Coal India, Hindalco and Tata Steel were choppy.

Sun Pharma, ITC and Aurobindo Pharma were the top three gainers in the Nifty50 index, whereas Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and Coal India were the losers.

On the NSE, 1035 stocks were advancing, compared with 572 stocks declining and 357 stocks remaining unchanged.