Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Wednesday, extended their winning run for the fourth consecutive session, tracking positive cues from the world markets, led by sharp gains in IT and energy shares. Buying in index majors Reliance Industries, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services and FII inflows bolstered the sentiment.
The BSE Sensex rallied 629 points (1.15 per cent) to settle at 55,397. During the day, it jumped 862 points (1.57 per cent) to 55,630. The broader NSE Nifty climbed 180 points (1.10 per cent) to 16,520.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, Infosys, State Bank of India, Wipro, and Hindustan Unilever were the biggest gainers. On the flipside, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Asian Paints were among the laggards.
Among specific stock, shares of companies related to oil exploration and refineries were in heavy demand on Wednesday, with Reliance rallying 2.47 per cent and ONGC by 4 per cent, as the Centre slashed windfall tax on petrol, diesel, jet fuel, and crude oil.
In the broader markets, Midcap and Smallcap shares finished on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 edged 0.19 per cent higher and Smallcap rose 0.81 per cent.
On NSE, 12 out of the 15 sector gauges settled in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Oil & Gas outperformed the NSE platform by rising as much as 2.93 per cent, 1.13 per cent and 1.02 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty Auto fell as much as 0.22 per cent.
In the previous session on Tuesday, Sensex had climbed 246 points (0.45 per cent) to close at 54,768, while Nifty had moved 62 points (0.38 per cent) higher to settle at 16,341.
Meanwhile, the rupee declined 8 paise to close at an all-time low of 80.00 against US dollar from its previous close of 79.92 on Tuesday.
In Asian markets, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended significantly higher following overnight gains in US markets. Markets in Europe were trading mostly higher during mid-session deals.
"The sharp 8 per cent pullback in Nifty from June lows of 15,183 is all set to continue aided by a flood of good news. First, the US markets have rebounded sharply driven by impressive corporate earnings. Second, FPI selling appears to have bottomed out. FPIs have bought 5 days this month. Third, the relief announced by the government for the petroleum sector through reduction in windfall tax and cuts in duties on exports will be a major boost for the sector, particularly for RIL," said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.17 per cent to $106.1 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers on Tuesday picking up shares worth Rs 976.40 crore, as per exchange data.