The markets have opened in the green this morning ahead of the Railway Budget which is to be announced today. Inflation numbers for the month of February will also keep gains in check. The Sensex is up 154 points at 17,968. Nifty is up 50 points at 5,479.
The dollar jumped against the euro and the yen on Tuesday after comments by the Federal Reserve drove down expectations that it would further ease monetary policy, and US stocks notched multi-year highs on optimism on the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.7 per cent, to 13,178. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.8 per cent to 1,396.
Asian shares rose on Wednesday with The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index carrying the momentum from overnight and rose 0.3 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei average opened up 1.7 per cent.
Metal shares continue to shine this morning. Banking space is also trading in the positive zone. BSE metal index has added 1.5% to 12,137. Capital goods, auto and bankex have advanced over 1% each.
Sterlite has added 2% to Rs 123. ICICI Bank and Infosys are the key contributors to the Sensex's upmove and are up around 2% each. Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco and Sun Pharma are some of the other key gainers this morning.
However, TCS and Wipro have shed 1% each. In a step towards complying with the new shareholding norms on promoter holdings, the Azim Premji Foundation said it would sell 35 million shares of Wipro through an auction route, opening today.
NMDC is eyeing to acquire three more overseas properties by June-July, reports suggest. The stock has surged 1.2% to Rs 182.
IT services provider Subex has bagged 5 crore rupee contract from Idea Cellular for providing fraud management solution through managed services. Subex is up 1% at Rs 28.50.
BSE market breadth is positive. Out of 1,509 shares traded, 1,073 shares have advanced while 378 shares have declined in trades.
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