Indian equities continued to rise for the third day on Wednesday amid volatility. Equity benchmark Sensex crossed the 44,000 mark for the first time in opening trade on Wednesday, tracking gains in financial stocks amid largely positive cues from other Asian markets and persistent foreign fund inflow.

At 1.54 p,m., the Sensex was trading up 147.45 points or 0.34% at 44,100.16 with 12 components gaining.  Meanwhile, the Nifty was trading higher by 34.85 points or 0.27% at 12,909.05 with 26 components falling.  

Major gainers in the 30-share index were Mahindra & Mahindra  (9.94%), Larsen & Toubro  (5.53%), Indusind Bank  (3.99%), Bajaj Finserv  (3.81%), and Bajaj Finance  (3.52%).

On the other hand, Titan (2.35%), Hindustan Unilever  (1.83%), Tata Consultancy Services  (1.77%), Bharti Airtel  (1.72%), Infosys  (1.58%) and HCL Technologies  (1.42%) were the major losers in the Sensex.