The Indian benchmark equity indices, Sensex and Nifty ended higher Wednesday led by gains in pharma, auto and realty stocks amid strong global cues.

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The Sensex ended 258.50 points or 0.66 percent higher at 39,302.85 while the Nifty gained 82.75 points or 0.72 percent to settle at 11,604.55. Broader indices ended mixed with Nifty Smallcap100 ending flat while Nifty Midcap100 gaining 0.3 percent.

Rally in heavyweights such as M&M, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto, Infosys, among other lofted Nifty above 11,600 levels.

Among sectors, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Realty rallied the most over 2 percent followed by Nifty Auto, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty IT. Nifty Media and Nifty PSU Bank ended in the red.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories, M&M, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto and Britannia Industries led gains among Nifty50 constituents while IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Bharti Infratel, SBI and Axis Bank were the top index losers.

“We were successful in getting past the resistance zone of 11,550 - 11,575 during trade and also managed to close above these levels. This is a bullish sign and we should now expect markets to move towards 11,800 and then 12,000. Every dip can now be utilized to buy into. The Nifty support is at 11,300-113,50 levels,” said Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das assured that the RBI is closely monitoring the economic situation, and the central bank is prepared to take further measures to prepare the economy and banking system to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

"These reassuring statements helped the Nifty to rise towards the recent highs," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

Shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories ended 4 percent higher after the company and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V vaccine in India. Upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF shall supply to Dr Reddy’s 100 million doses of the vaccine.

Globally, investors were generally cautious before the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, boosting the yen, as the rally that pushed up shares after Chinese and US economic data in the previous session slowed in early London trading. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, was up 0.2 percent, while MSCI's main European Index was up 0.3 percent.

First Published:Sept 16, 2020 3:36 PM IST