Indian stocks rose nearly 1 per cent on Wednesday, extending gains for a third session as investors feel markets have by now priced in an expected hike in US interest rates later in the day.
The 30-share index, which had gained 276.09 points in the previous two sessions, surged 173.93 points or 0.69 per cent to 25,494.37 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty rose 50 points or 0.65 per cent to 7,750.90.
Barring FMCG, consumer durables and auto, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the green. Among them, oil & gas index gained the most by 1.71 per cent, followed by infrastructure 1.51 per cent, PSU 1.33 per cent and power 1.3 per cent.
On the other hand, FMCG index was down 0.58 per cent, followed by consumer durables 0.58 per cent and auto 0.5 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were ONGC (+3.99%), Bharti Airtel (+3.83%), ICICI Bank (+2.29%), Lupin (+1.95%) and Infosys (+1.72%), while the major losers were M&M (-5.44%), ITC (-0.96%), Wipro (-0.64%), Hindalco (-0.32%) and HUL (-0.3%).
Utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra fell after India's top court ordered a temporary ban on the sale of large diesel cars in New Delhi as the country's highly polluted capital seeks ways to tackle one of its worst-ever bouts of toxic smog.
But the shares of companies such as Indraprastha Gas and GAIL (India) Ltd gained as investors saw them as beneficiaries from the government's focus on cleaner fuel to tackle pollution.
Fed rate hike
The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to announce a hike in interest rates when its two-day policy-setting meeting ends later in the day.
It would be the first US rate hike in nearly a decade, signalling the beginning of an end to an expansionary monetary policy that has supplied a tidal wave of liquidity to risk asset markets globally.
"The market has already priced in a rate hike and we have corrected significantly, the problem will be if the Fed doesn't hike rates tonight," said Gaurang Shah, Vice-President at Geojit BNP Paribas.
"We won't see a runaway rally, we might see some minor sell-offs, but everyone is waiting for this (Fed meet) to get over."
European shares edged higher on Wednesday, mirroring gains on Wall Street and in Asia, with investors awaiting the outcome of a crucial rate-setting meeting of the US Federal Reserve for hints about the market's near-term direction.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst index was up 0.18 per cent at 1,413.49 points by 0806 GMT, after climbing 2.9 per cent in the previous session following a rebound in crude oil prices.