Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ticked higher in initial trade on Wednesday led by buying in IT stocks and a rally in the US markets.

The BSE Sensex climbed 338.1 points to 79,814.73 in early trade. The NSE Nifty jumped 101.5 points to 24,314.80.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti, NTPC, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services were the biggest gainers.

Titan, Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever and JSW Steel were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Tokyo and Shanghai traded higher while Seoul and Hong Kong quoted lower.

Wall Street ended sharply higher on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.94 per cent to USD 74.82 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,569.41 crore on Tuesday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought Rs 3,030.96 crore worth of shares, according to exchange data.

"The sharp rebound in the market yesterday indicates a halt to the downward trend witnessed during the last many days. The fact that the rebound is being led by fairly valued and fundamentally strong large banking stocks is important and points to the possibility of the continuation of the trend.

"However, the poor earnings growth in Q2 and earnings downgrades for FY25 are headwinds that will constrain a sustained rally," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

The noise and action related to the US elections will last only for a few days, after which economic fundamentals will determine the direction of the market trend, he added.

Bouncing back from Monday's sharp fall, the BSE benchmark jumped 694.39 points or 0.88 per cent to settle at 79,476.63 on Tuesday. The Nifty climbed 217.95 points or 0.91 per cent to 24,213.30.