Key benchmarks came off day's high and were trading with decent gains in morning trade. At 10:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 121.80 points or 0.33% at 36,641.76. The Nifty 50 index was up 44.35 points or 0.40% at 11,052.40. Positive leads from Asian markets and overnight gains on the Wall Street boosted investors sentiment.
Broader market witnessed profit booking. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.34%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.19%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1035 shares rose and 778 shares fell. A total of 83 shares were unchanged.
Metal shares declined. National Aluminium Company (down 1.58%), Hindustan Copper (down 1.32%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.21%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.18%), Steel Authority of India (down 1.17%), NMDC (down 0.93%), Vedanta (down 0.93%), Tata Steel (down 0.88%), Hindustan Zinc (down 0.09%) and JSW Steel (down 0.07%), edged lower.
FMCG shares were mixed. Tata Global Beverages (down 1.21%), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.11%), Nestle India (down 0.73%), Britannia Industries (down 0.72%), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (down 0.35%) and Bajaj Corp (down 0.12%), edged lower. Dabur India (up 0.16%), Colgate Palmolive (India) (up 0.66%), Marico (up 1.40%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (up 1.44%), Godrej Consumer Products (up 2.35%) and Jyothy Laboratories (up 5.02%), edged higher.
Overseas, Asian shares were trading higher, tracking overnight gains in the US market following upbeat remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell during his congressional testimony.
US stocks closed higher on Tuesday, extending a recent upswing after Fed's Powell indicated the US central bank would not move too quickly in changing monetary policy, and that it would be flexible in the face of changing conditions. Traders also digested the latest round of corporate earnings, which came in mixed but nevertheless showed strong growth.
Appearing in front of the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said the best way forward is to keep gradually raising the federal-funds rate for now. In a cautious note, however, Powell said that it is difficult to predict the ultimate outcome of current discussions over trade policy as well as the size and timing of the economic effects of the recent changes in fiscal policy.
On the US data front, industrial production rose 0.6% in June to more than offset a similarly sized decline in May. The National Association of Home Builders' monthly confidence index was unchanged at 68 in July.
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