Mumbai, Jul 17 (IANS): Sensex and Nifty on Wednesday advanced for the third successive day despite US President Donald Trump saying that a hike in tariffs on Chinese products is still an option.

The Sensex closed 84.60 points higher at 39,215.64, while the Nifty closed 24.90 up at 11,687.50.

"The market was range bound while bank nifty outperformed in expectation of transfer of RBI reserves to the government. Q1FY20 is unlikely to provide cheer to the investors due to risk of downgrade in FY20 earnings given the muted expectation," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Nair added that the finance and cement sectors are expected to be strong performers, while auto, metal and oil and gas sectors are likely to underperform due to weak consumer demand, lower realisations and slowdown in the global economy.

Spice Jet closed nearly 8 per cent higher at Rs 141.95 apiece, while private lender Yes Bank shed over 5 per cent to end at Rs 98.45 per stock ahead of its quarterly results.

DCB Bank shares closed down 16.3 per cent after the lender reported dismal set of earnings for the quarter ended June 2019. Fall in credit growth, elevated provisions and weak asset quality with rising slippages hit earnings in the June quarter.

Resurgent trade tensions, concern over the outlook for corporate America and the growing risk of a chaotic Brexit in the United Kingdom dampened appetite for equities on Wednesday while keeping alive interest in the dollar and government bonds, said Deepak Jasani of HDFC Securities.