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Both the Sensex and Nifty rose on Wednesday, marking their fourth straight session of gains, as investors bought defensive stocks ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting due later in the day.
Gains were also helped by a rise in the shares of Reliance Industries, which increased 3 per cent on continued optimism about the company's plans to start 4G phone services in December.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex jumped 146.15 points or 0.55 per cent to 26,832.66 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty gained 44.25 points or 0.55 per cent to 8,091.55.
Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables index gained the most by 2.26 per cent, followed by healthcare 1.62 per cent, FMCG 1.46 per cent and capital goods 1.11 per cent. On the other hand, power index was down 0.45 per cent, followed by banking 0.15 per cent and PSU 0.02 per cent.
Defensive stocks led the gains with Hindustan Unilever up 3.15 per cent and cigarette maker ITC up 0.72 per cent.
India's second-largest company by market value, Reliance Industries, also rose 3 per cent, extending gains for a fourth consecutive session after Chairman Mukesh Ambani had said on Friday that the company could be ready to begin 4G phone services in December.
Top five Sensex gainers were Cipla (+3.85%), Tata Steel (+3.62%), HUL (+3.15%), Reliance (+3.00%) and Hindalco (+2.77%), while the major losers were VEDL (-3.14%), BHEL (-1.91%), Tata Power (-1.49%), Bajaj Auto (-0.97%) and Hero MotoCorp (-0.74%).
Value-buying continued as the broader NSE index has lost 11.2 per cent so far this year, and had closed below the psychologically important 8,000 level last week.
"Market is recovering after sharp falls and Fed is not expected to be in a hurry to raise rates," said Deven Choksey, Managing Director at K R Choksey Securities.
Global markets
Investors in most asset classes traded cautiously on Wednesday as they waited for a signal from the US Federal Reserve on its first rate hike and whether the euro zone would pull another Greek rabbit out of its hat.
With much of still guesswork, European markets opened with the main bourses a shade lower, the euro and dollar in tight ranges and ultra-safe German government bonds and the Swiss franc the preferred options.
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