Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in early trade on Wednesday with gains of nearly 1 per cent each tracking positive global cues and buying in IT stocks.

In morning trade, Sensex was trading 0.94 per cent or 695 points higher at 74,548.69, hitting an intraday high against previous close of 73,852.90.

Similarly, Nifty surged 0.86 per cent or almost 200 points to 23,086.95 from previous close of 22,888.95.

Earlier in the day the benchmarks opened higher, with the Sensex opening at 74,337.93, up 485.03 points or 0.66 per cent.

Nifty opened at 23,016.00, up 127.05 points or 0.56 per cent.

Sector-wise, Nifty IT, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Cement, Nifty MidSmall IT & Telecom and Nifty Oil & Gas increased up to 1.97 per cent.

However, Nifty Media and Nifty Chemicals were trading in the red.

According to market experts, as Brent crude prices and US bond yields remained elevated, the market is likely to remain under pressure and the sell-on-rally construct will continue in the near-term.

However, improving earnings growth, fair valuations of large-caps and strong domestic liquidity will support the market on declines, they said.

IT and banking which have performed well in Q2 and are attractively valued, will see strong DII-led accumulation on corrections, the experts said.

Notably, the Q2 results season has started on a positive note and market action going forward will be more stock-specific and results-sensitive, experts noted.

In the last trading session on October 19, FIIs remained net sellers, offloading equities worth approximately Rs 1,148 crore, while DIIs continued to support the market with net purchases of around Rs 3,200 crore.

In addition, Asian shares traded higher following gains in US stock futures after upbeat earnings from major AI-linked companies renewed investor interest in technology shares.