The Indian benchmark indices, the Sensex and the Nifty, traded higher around noon on Wednesday on hopes of relief measures from the government to tackle the financial fallout from the coronavirus outbreak amid a fall in new cases in China.

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At 1:27 pm, the Sensex was trading 359.40 points or 0.88 percent higher at 41,253.78 and the Nifty was trading 115.20 points or 0.96 percent higher at 12,107.70.

Buying was witnessed across sectors with Nifty Pharma and Nifty Metal gaining the most followed by Nifty Media, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty FMCG. Midcap and Smallcap indices also rose by over one percent.

Bharti Infratel, Grasim Industries, Coal India, ZEEL and Hindustan Unilever led gains among Nifty constituents while Tata Motors, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Consultancy Services and L&T were the top losers.

Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank gained over 2 percent to touch a 52-week high of Rs 1,739.95 after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved its promoter shareholding dilution plan.

Shares of Aurobindo Pharma surged more than 18 percent after it received an establishment inspection report (EIR) from the US drug regulator. The EIR has been received with voluntary action initiated (VAl) status from the USFDA.

Shares of Vodafone Idea jumped over 36 percent on a report the government is backing a three-private player market and is unlikely to invoke the company's bank guarantees for now.

Globally, Asian shares and US stock futures rose on Wednesday, as investors tried to shake off worries about the coronavirus epidemic after a slight decline in the number of new cases.

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