Key benchmarks Sensex and Nifty surged by nearly one per cent on Wednesday and ended higher for the fifth consecutive session with optimism over the possibility of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

At the closing bell, the S&P BSE Sensex was 358 points up at 36,975 while the Nifty 50 closed 128 points higher at 11,062.

It was the best close for both indices since September. The gains were spread across most verticals as investor sentiment was buoyed by a slew of upbeat quarterly results.

Tech Mahindra closed over 8 per cent higher at Rs 812. Cipla moved up 7.3 per cent, Zee Entertainment 6.46 per cent while Tata Steel and Bajaj Finance were up over 4 per cent.

ONGC, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Auto were other top gainers.

However, stocks of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) continued their downward spiral.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were subdued but remained in positive territory after US President Donald Trump's State of the Union address.

Investors were hoping he would speak about concrete measures as senior US and Chinese officials prepare for another round of trade talks in Beijing next week.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street piled up gains due to strong corporate results from Europe and the United States.

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