Hindustan Unilever was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares.
The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes ended near three week highs in trade on Wednesday as drop in the number of new coronavirus cases and the Federal Reserve chairman's optimistic view of the economy lifted world stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 456 points at the day's highest level and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 12,232. Rally in today's session was led by gains in Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank.
The Sensex ended 350 points or 0.8 per cent higher at 41,566 and the Nifty surged 93 points or 0.7 per cent to close at 12,201.
MSCI's global equity index rose 0.12 per cent to stand just off Tuesday's record highs. A pan-European equity index rose to a record as automobile stocks -- which depend on exports to China -- jumped 1.2 per cent.
Back home, thirteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE ended higher led by the S&P BSE FMCG index's 2 per cent gain.
S&P BSE Energy, Information Technology and Bankex indexes also rose between 0.7-0.8 per cent each.
On the other hand, S&P BSE Power index was top loser, down 1 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares underperformed their larger peers as the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indexes declined little over 0.1 per cent each.
Hindustan Unilever was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock rose 5 per cent to close at Rs 2,262. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Eicher Motors, ICICI Bank, Nestle India, JSW Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra and Wipro were also among the gainers, up 1-2 per cent each.
On the flipside, Yes Bank was top Nifty loser, the stock slumped 4.5 per cent to Rs 35.20. Bharti Infratel, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, Bharat Petroleum, Sun Pharma and Cipla were also among the losers.
The overall market breadth was negative as 1,497 shares ended lower while 960 closed higher on the BSE.
(With inputs from Reuters)
