Sensex, Nifty Open Modestly Higher

Indian shares opened a tad higher on Wednesday after technology stocks drove Wall Street to record highs overnight.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 98 points, or 0.25 percent, to 38,999 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was up 39 points, or 0.34 percent, at 11,509.

Bharti Infratel rallied 3.7 percent after its board has decided to proceed with the scheme for merger with Indus Towers.

Vodafone Idea, which will sell its 11.15 percent stake in Indus Towers for a cash consideration of about Rs 4,000 crore, jumped nearly 10 percent.

Infosys gained 0.8 percent on news it will hire 12,000 American workers over the next two years.

ONGC advanced 2.5 percent after unveiling its June quarter earnings results.

Hero MotoCorp edged down slightly as it reported an 8.5 percent year-on-year rise in its domestic wholesales for August.

Coal India rose nearly 2 percent. The state-owned company reported the first increase in monthly shipments since February.

Jubilant FoodWorks slid half a percent ahead of its earnings release.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises soared 4 percent as it announced a new film distribution service that will offer new films on DTH and OTT platforms.

Escorts gained 2 percent after posting 80 percent growth in tractor volumes in August.

Tata Motors added 0.8 percent after posting a staggering sales growth of 154 percent in Aug 2020.