"brent-crude"

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 74.35 against the US dollar, then gained further ground and touched 74.29, registering a rise of 47 paise over its previous close.

SBI was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging over 5 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, Infosys, Tata Steel, TCS and Reliance Industries.

Traders said most Asian currencies opened weak against the US Dollar Index, which started with gains on Wednesday morning in Asian trade ahead of the US Presidential election results.

ICICI Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging around 4 per cent, followed by SBI, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel and HDFC.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.14 per cent to 94.01.

Losses in domestic stock markets and uncertainty ahead of US presidential election weighed on the investor sentiment, traders said.

Reliance Industries was the top laggard, tanking over 4 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, TCS, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, Infosys and HUL.

NTPC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by Nestle India, HCL Tech, ONGC, SBI, M&M, TCS and Reliance Industries.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.41 per cent to 93.31.

On the equity market front, BSE index Sensex was trading 11.80 points higher at 40,157.30, and the broader NSE Nifty advanced 20.55 points to 11,788.30.

IndusInd Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding around 3 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, ONGC, SBI, HDFC, Infosys and Reliance Industries.

Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, shedding around 2 per cent, followed by Maruti, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, HDFC twins and TCS.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 279.13 points or 0.69 per cent lower at 40,428.18, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 80.05 points or 0.67 per cent to 11,857.60.

Most of the Asian currencies have started marginally weak against the US dollar this morning and could weigh on sentiments.

HCL Tech was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging around 3 per cent, followed by L&T, M&M, Tech Mahindra, Maruti, TCS, Asian Paints, Infosys and HDFC Bank.

ICICI Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, jumping over 5 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, Nestle India, SBI, HDFC, ONGC and Kotak Bank.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 160.58 points higher at 39,888.99, and the broader NSE Nifty rose 45.75 points to 11,726.10.

"Rising number of COVID-19 cases is prompting worries about a new wave of lockdowns in Europe and hopes from US stimulus spending are fading", Reliance Securities said in a research note.

Tech Mahindra was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding around 2 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, TCS, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and ITC.