Sensex, Nifty End Higher After Choppy Trade

(RTTNews) - Indian shares closed higher on Wednesday despite weak cues from global markets as investors grappled with rising bond yields and renewed trade uncertainty.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty reversed early losses after a survey showed India's service sector growth accelerated to more than a 15-year high in August on the back of surging new orders.

New orders grew at the quickest pace in over fifteen years, and the rate of expansion in international sales was the third strongest in the survey history amid greater demand from clients in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, according to the HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) survey.

Investors also looked ahead to a key Goods and Services Tax Council (GST) meeting that is expected to deliver rate cuts on a swath of goods.

The move was flagged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address. The benchmark BSE Sensex ended the session up 409.83 points, or 0.51 percent, at 80,567.71, after hitting a low of 80,004 earlier.

The broader NSE Nifty index hit an intraday low of 24,533 before reversing course to end up 135.45 points, or 0.55 percent, at 24,715.05.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes gained 0.6 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

The market breadth was strong on the BSE, with 2,634 shares surging while 1,473 shares declined and 163 shares closed unchanged.

Metal stocks topped the gainers list, with Tata Steel rallying 5.9 percent on expectations of China rationalizing production.

Among other prominent gainers, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, Trent, Eternal, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Titan Company rose 1-2 percent.