Indian equity indices got off to a strong start on Wednesday, gaining for the fourth day in a row, aided by buying in HDFC twins and a strong trend in global markets.

In early trade, the Sensex rose 382.43 points to 59,343.03. Similarly, the Nifty rose 98.45 points to 17,585.40.

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The Sensex pack’s early winners were HDFC, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro, Titan, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, and UltraTech Cement.

Among the laggards were HCL Technologies, State Bank of India, Infosys, Sun Pharma, and Bajaj Finserv.

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Asian markets are trading mostly in green with Nikkei 225 rising 143.81 points or 0.53% to 27,299.95, Jakarta Composite climbing 19.28 points or 0.28% to 6,853.77, KOSPI advanced 3.29 points or 0.15% to 2,253.24, Straits Times increased 13.51 points or 0.45% to 3,039.39. However, Taiwan Weighted fell 66.31 points or 0.51% to 13,058.37, Hang Seng declined 178.91 points or 1.06% to 16,735.67 and Shanghai Composite dropped 15.78 points or 0.51% to 3,065.18.

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Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday. The S&P 500 rose 42.03 points, or 1.1%, to 3,719.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 337.98 points, or 1.1%, to 30,523.80. The Nasdaq rose 96.60 points, or 0.9%, to 10,772.40. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 20.20 points, or 1.2%, to 1,755.96.

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“There are two factors supporting the ongoing rally in the market support from the mother market US aided by some excellent quarterly results and FII selling getting completely overwhelmed by DII (Domestic Institutional Investors) buying,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“Good Q2 results are imparting resilience in segments like IT and financials. The festive mood is another positive,” Vijayakumar added.

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On Tuesday, the Sensex rose 549.62 points, or 0.94%, to 58,960.60. The Nifty rose 175.15 points, or 1.01%, to 17,486.95.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold shares worth a net of Rs 153.40 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 2,084.71 crore on October 18, as per data available on the NSE.

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Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, was trading 0.59% higher at USD 90.56 a barrel. In opening trade on Wednesday, the rupee rose 6 paise to 82.34 versus the US dollar, as a strong trend in local stocks boosted investor sentiment.