Equity benchmarks rise in afternoon trade, Sensex at 78,788.13, Nifty at 23,846.35, auto and banking stocks lead gains.

January typically tends to be a slower month according to the past decade’s seasonality, with Nifty often closing in the red 70 per cent of the time.

Stock Market LIVE Updates: JSW Infrastructure shares gained 2.9 per cent on BSE, logging an intraday high at Rs 319.15 per share. The upmove in the stock came after domestic brokerage Motilal Oswal reiterated 'Buy' and raised the target price from Rs 350 to Rs 375 per share. Read more