Indian shares ended higher on Wednesday, marking their highest close in nearly two weeks, led by gains in software exporters such as Infosys Ltd, as investors seeking bargains bought into beaten down stocks.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 151.15 points or 0.54 per cent at 28,223.08 and the 50-share NSE index was up 51.05 points or 0.6 per cent at 8,567.95.

Information technology stocks like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro led the rally on a strong US dollar on rising expectations of an interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

Sentiment was also boosted after a private survey showed India's dominant services industry bounced back to growth in July.

"After yesterday's credit policy the view was that we could go down and recover. My sense is that we're seeing some buying at lower levels," Gaurang Shah, Vice-President at Geojit BNP Paribas, said.

Indian stocks had ended a four-session winning streak on Tuesday after the central bank left key rates unchanged.

Financial stocks that saw some selling pressure on Tuesday recovered with Housing Development Finance Corp gaining 0.05 per cent and HDFC Bank rising 0.35 per cent.

Adani Enterprises Ltd's shares jumped over 9 percent after the company said on Tuesday it was in talks with Taiwan's Foxconn for a possible joint venture, though no agreement had been signed.

Nestle India rose as much as 10 per cent after India's FSSAI-approved lab found Nestle's Maggi noodles to be safe.

Bharti Airtel gained 3 per cent after reporting better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index gained the most by 3.31 per cent, followed by IT 1.78 per cent, healthcare 1.55 per cent and TECk 1.53 per cent. On the other hand, banking index was down 0.33 per cent, followed by PSU 0.09 per cent and metal 0.04 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Wipro (+2.94%), Infosys (+2.52%), Bajaj Auto (+2.36%), Tata Steel (+2.28%) and Lupin (+2.08%), while the major losers were Tata Motors (-1.1%), Coal India (-1.08%), SBIN (-0.99%), ICICI Bank (-0.96%) and Hindalco (-0.91%).

A report by SMC Investments and Advisors said: "Asian stocks turned mostly higher early today, as stabilisation in energy prices helped offset the uninspiring lead from Wall Street. Overnight, US stocks chalked up a three-session losing streak as investors worried about an eventual hike in US interest rates, while Apple's shares hit their lowest in over six months.

Siemens, Bata India, Deepak Fertilizers, Canara Bank, Emami, Indraprastha Gas, Marico, PTC India, Snowman Logistics and Tata Chemicals to announce their results today. US factory orders rose 1.8 per cent in June compared to the previous month. Economists were predicting an increase of 1.7 per cent. In May, factory orders were lower by 1.1 per cent. The dollar eased from multi-year highs in June, likely spurring foreign demand for U.S.-made equipment."

Solid European corporate earnings, notably from French bank Societe Generale, boosted stocks after Lockhart's comments and a slide in Apple shares soured the sentiment the previous day.

Europe's index of the leading 300 shares was up 0.8 per cent at 1,593 points, Britain's FTSE 100 was up a third of one per cent and Germany's DAX up 1 per cent.

France's CAC 40 was also up 1 per cent, led by a 8.5 percent surge in SocGen shares after the bank reported second-quarter results that beat analysts' forecasts.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.5 per cent but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.2 per cent.

In China, the CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen was flat after curbs on short-selling prompted a sizeable bounce on Tuesday.

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