Mid-day market trade: Indices near all-time high; BPCL top Nifty gainer with 6% gains

Buoyed by sharp gains in the energy and auto pack, Indian equity benchmarks inched close to the all-time high hit in the previous day's session. At the last count, Nifty was up 0.47 per cent or 115.65 points at 24,951.75, while the Sensex was up by 0.43 per cent or 350.79 points at 81,706.63.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd held that Nifty is expected to waver between gains and losses, influenced by a clash between overbought technical conditions and bearish sentiments following a sharp fall. Volatility is anticipated due to intensified Middle East tensions and FIIs being net sellers of Rs. 2,475 crores. Key catalysts include the FOMC meeting,

Sectorally, energy, auto and realty pack led gains with an upmove of up to 1.29 per cent at the last count.

From the Nifty pack, top gainers included stocks like BPCL, Tata Motors, Power Grid Corporation, NTPC and Asian Paints, while the laggards included stocks such as UltraTech Cement, Cipla, Hindalco, LTIMindtree and Grasim Industries.