Sensex rises 200 points, Nifty near 22,700 on gains in index heavyweights

From the Sensex stocks, , , , Reliance, and opened with gains, while only , , and opened with cuts.

Among individual stocks, shares fell 4% after Surinder Chawla resigned as the chief executive and managing director of Paytm Payments Bank.

shares jumped 7% in early trade after the company incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary, namely PB Pay.

Sector-wise, Metal rose over 1%, led by , , and . Nifty Bank, Auto, IT, Media, Realty, and Oil & Gas also surged.

India's top IT services company Tata Consultancy Services will be the first Nifty 50 company to report its earnings on Friday, kickstarting the quarterly results season.

Experts Take
"A significant recent healthy trend in the market is the outperformance of the fundamentally strong largecaps over the mid and smallcaps. This trend is making the market healthier and, therefore, has the potential to continue. Largecap banking stocks are likely to be the leaders if the rally sustains," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, "Nifty can find support at 22,580 followed by 22,550 and 22,500. On the higher side, 22,750 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,800 and 22,900."

Global Markets
Asian stocks were muted as investors kept watch for possible intervention by Japanese authorities to stop the yen's decline. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 posted modest gains overnight, while the Dow Jones was essentially unchanged.

The U.S. inflation data is expected to show a rise in headline inflation in February. Recent strong economic data has dampened hopes of a rate cut in June, and hotter-than-expected inflation data will likely add to worries of further delay.

FII/DII Tracker
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 593.20 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 2,257.18 crore worth of stocks on April 9, provisional data from the NSE showed.

DII have been net buyers of Indian shares in 22 of 26 sessions since the beginning of March, adding stocks worth Rs 62,039 crore in the period.

Crude Oil
Oil prices held steady in early trade on Wednesday after two straight days of losses, as worries about tighter supply due to uncertainty over Gaza ceasefire talks were offset by a bigger-than-expected build in U.S. crude inventories.

Brent crude futures were flat at $89.42 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 2 cents to $85.25.

Rupee Strengthens
The Indian rupee rose 11 paise to 83.20 against the US dollar in early trade, helped by the dip in U.S. Treasury yields ahead of the release of the key inflation data in the world's largest economy. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.01% to 104.13 level.

(With inputs from agencies)

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)