The equity markets opened in the green on Wednesday morning, with the Sensex opening at 31,566 points and soon gaining nearly 75 points. Adani Ports, TCS and HDFC Bank gained more than 1% in the early trade. Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors, ITC, Bajaj and Powergrid were up by more than 0.75%. L&T, Sun Pharma, Coal India, Asian Paints and ONGC were trading in the red in the Sensex.

32 stocks had seen advances, while 18 stocks had declined in the morning trade. L&T and Bajaj Auto had lost more than 1%. Top gainers in the Nifty included TCS, Tata Power, HDFC, Tata Motors and Hindalco up. TCS and Tata Power had gained more than 2%.

On the broader markets, BSE Mid-cap index was trading at 15,204 level, up by 111 points while BSE Small-cap index was trading at 15,490 level, up by 81 points.

The equity benchmark index is up by over 18% so far this year. A week back, it was up by over 21%, but a recent correction wiped off more than 3% returns. Barring the correction seen in the last week, the returns for the benchmark index have been stellar. However, not all the stocks on the index have done equally well.

Companies like Tata Steel, HDFC Bank etc have given stellar returns. In fact, Tata Steel has returned more than 59% in the year so far. The Tata group company has received regulatory approval for a deal to cut its UK pension scheme liabilities, paving the way for a possible merger between its British and European steel businesses and those of Germany’s Thyssenkrupp.

HDFC Bank is up by more than 45% since January. The stock has beaten the benchmark on a one-year, three-year and five-year basis too. The other top gainers which have posted more than 40% returns in the year so far are Reliance Industries, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd and Maruti Suzuki. The other buzzing stocks with returns more than 30% since January are Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra, HDFC Corporation Ltd, and Asian Paints.

Not all is well in the pharma sector, Information Technology majors too have been sluggish this year, with the much celebrated company Infosys Ltd losing 2.8%, while the largest Indian IT firm Tata Consultancy Services returning only 4.39% gains so far this year, underperforming the benchmark by a huge gap.