India’s stock market benchmark opened in the green on Wednesday, with the Sensex breaking the 60,000-point mark in intraday trading for the first time since April 5. Strength in oil and gas, auto and FMCG stocks drove the market up, although weakness in some IT names played a damaging role.

Global stock markets were mixed as worries about slowing growth outweighed earnings optimism.

Both the Sensex and Nifty50 were up 0.3% in the first few minutes of trading. The 30-share index rose 165.9 points to 60,008.1, its highest level, while the Nifty climbed to 17,883.2, up 57.9 points from its previous close.

A total of 37 stocks in the Nifty50 basket opened higher. Axis Bank, UltraTech, Larsen & Toubro, SBI and Divi’s Labs were among the top gainers.

Grasim, Reliance, Cipla, HCL Tech and Bharat Petroleum – all up about 0.5% at the open – were the biggest blue-chip gainers.

On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, SBI Life, TCS, UPL and JSW Steel – down as much as 0.5% – were the biggest laggards.

Reliance, Hindustan Unilever, ITC and ICICI Bank were the biggest contributors to gains in both indexes.

VK Vijayakumar, the chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “A steady decline in inflation, strong economic growth momentum and a shift in FII to consistent buyers are driving the rally. Despite the high valuations, staying invested and buying the dip makes sense.”

“Experts who thought it was a bear market rally were proven wrong as a strong rally took the Nifty to within 4.5% of its all-time high. The rally has global support,” he added.

Overall market breadth favoured bulls, with 1,707 BSE stocks advancing and 634 declining.