Continuing its rising spree for the fourth session, the benchmark BSE Sensex reclaimed the 36,000 mark by jumping over 200 points Wednesday, tracking positive cues from global markets on rising hopes that the US and China would strike a deal to end their trade tiff.
Moreover, optimistic buying by investors ahead of Q3 earnings season supported the rally.
The BSE Sensex after a gap-up opening at 36,181.37, advanced further to the day's high of 36,250.54, before ending at 36,212.91, showing a gain of 231.98 points, or 0.64 per cent.
The gauge had gained by 467 points in the previous three sessions.
The NSE Nifty also gained 53 points, or 0.49 per cent, to settle 10,855.15 after shuttling between 10,870.40 and 10,749.40.
Top performers that led the gains on bourses were Axis Bank, ITC, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, HUL, HDFC Bank, Maruti and ICICI Bank, rising up to 2.94 per cent.
Infosys, the country's second largest IT services firm, rose 0.90 per cent after company Tuesday said its board will consider a buyback programme and payment of special dividend, among other proposals, at its meeting on January 11.
On the other hand, Yes Bank, Tata Steel Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, Bajaj Finance, NPTC, HCL Tech and TCS were the top losers, falling up to 3.07 per cent.
The market started on a positive note but took some caution ahead of major quarterly results scheduled tomorrow (Thursday), said analysts.
"In totality, with expectation of a breather from the US-China meeting led the market to close on a positive bias. Buying interest has been seen across sectors led by private banks, IT and FMCG; while PSU banks declined due to profit-booking post recent gains," said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.
Investor sentiment also got a boost after the World Bank projected India's GDP growth at 7.3 per cent in the fiscal year 2018-19, and 7.5 per cent in the following two years, attributing it to an upswing in consumption and investment, traders said.
The bank said India will continue to be the fastest growing major economy in the world.
The market sentiment was buoyant largely in sync with a positive trend at other Asian bourses, supported by rising hopes that the US and China would reach a truce, traders said.
US President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, had said that talks with Beijing on a trade deal were going on "very well".
However, selling towards the fag end, as investors took some money off the table at record levels, cut down the session's gains.
Besides, optimism ahead of Q3 earnings of some bluechip companies such TCS and Infosys, too, bolstered trading sentiments, accelerating buying by retail investors.
Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors bought shares to the tune of Rs 698.17 crore, while foreign portfolio investors offloaded shares worth a net of Rs 553.78 crore on Tuesday, provisional data showed.
Sector-wise, the FMCG index surged the most by gaining 1.11 per cent, followed by bankex 0.69 per cent and realty index 0.66 per cent.
Oil and gas, metal, PSU and infrastructure sector indices, however, ended in the red, falling up to 1.74 per cent.
Furthermore, most Asian markets ended in the green and European markets too were notably higher in their late morning session.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 2.26 per cent, Japan's Nikkei surged 1.10 per cent, Korea Kospi rallied 1.95 per cent, Taiwan's index gained 1.83 per cent, and Shanghai Composite Index was also up 0.71 per cent.
In European markets, Paris CAC 40 rose 0.99 per cent, while Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.96 per cent in their late morning deals. London's FTSE too gained 0.59 per cent.
On Wall Street, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.09 per cent higher Tuesday.
File photograph: Sahil Salvi.
