Sensex pares early gains, still 27 points above red line

A bout of volatility kicked in the equity markets on Wednesday as the benchmark Sensex slipped into the red after opening higher, but is still trading higher by 20 points amid higher Asian cues.

This came on the back of buying in power, realty, technology and healthcare sectors while financials, banking, capital goods, metal and consumer durables stocks lost ground.

The BSE Sensex opened sharply higher at 24,643.13 before quoting at 24,515.72 at 1158 hours, still up 29.77 points or 0.12%.

The 50-share Nifty was trading only slightly above the red line at 7,443.25 up only 7.10 points or 0.10% higher from its previous day's close.

Major gainers included NTPC (up 2.72%), Sun Pharma (1.49%) and Maruti (1.26%).

However, BHEL fell 2.68% followed by Coal India (1.25%), Larsen (1.24%), HUL (1.23%) and Lupin (1.11%).

All eyes are on the US Fed which is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at its two-day policy meet later in the day.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are in sell-off mode as they net sold shares worth Rs 91.15 crore on Monday, as per provisional data.

Other Asian markets were mostly higher after the Wall Street rallied overnight on a bounce in oil prices and positive earnings, shrugging off the recent global rout -- at least for now. But China shares struggled as the Shanghai Composite index tumbled 2.82%.

US stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday after energy stocks soared amid a rebound in oil prices.

Bombay Stock Exchange - BSE