BSE Sensex trades higher by 264 points, while the Nifty 50 rises above 10,500. Here are the latest updates from markets

BSE Sensex opened higher on Wednesday against the previous session’s closing. The broader Nifty 50 also rose in the morning hours. The Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Wednesday ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) interest rate decision due after 2.30pm.   Analysts expect the RBI to keep interest rates on hold on expectations that inflation may accelerate further due to higher crude oil prices and a proposed hike in minimum support prices (MSPs) for farmers in the budget. Here are the latest updates from the markets:

BSE Sensex traded higher by 157.17 points, or 0.46%, to 34,353.11, while the Nifty 50 rose 56.30 points, or 0.54%, to 10,554.55. MidCap was up 1.30% and SmallCap rose 2.41%.

Volatility has returned and money is moving from one asset class to another are some of the highlights of the massive fall which we witnessed in the last one week, Andrew Holland, CEO, Avendus Capital Alternate Strategies said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

Share indices were off the over 1% highs seen at open as shares of index majors Housing Development Finance Corp, HDFC Bank and Tata Consultancy Services fell close to 1% each.

Global indices recovered today following a violent sell-off in the US as investors were cautious of the rise in bond yields and on the expectation of higher interest rates.

All sectoral indices were in the green today with Nifty Realty, up 2.6%, being the top gainer.

At 10:30 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 34,333, up 137 points, while the Nifty50 index was trading at 10,552, up 54 points.

Shares of Hero MotoCorp gained 1.5% today as the company reported a 16% on-year rise in sales volume in Oct-Dec to 1.71 mn units.

Shares of Hindustan Petroleum Corp were among the best performers, up 3.4%, on the 50-stock index while Lupin was the biggest laggard, down 1.7%.

The broader markets were trading higher as the BSE MidCap Index gained 1.31%, while the BSE SmallCap Index soared 2.33%.

Volatility index India VIX slipped 3.42% at 19.3300.

HPCL (+3.3%), Hindalco (+2.6%), Tata Steel (+2.2%), Vedanta (+2.2%) and Aurobindo (+2%) were the top gainers on Nifty50.

Lupin (-1%), HCL Tech (-0.92%), TCS (-0.84%), HDFC Bank (-0.75%) and HDFC (-0.72%) were the top losers in today’s trade.

Out of 2,004 stocks traded on the NSE, 1,466 advanced, 142 declined and 396 remained unchanged today.

A total of 5 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, while 12 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

source: livemint.com