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.

The stock markets will remain closed on December 25 for Christmas. On Tuesday, investors showed caution leading to minor declines in BSE Sensex and Nifty50 amidst foreign fund outflows.