Indian equity shares closed at their highest level in nearly one month on Wednesday as blue-chips advanced on resumption of buying by foreign investors, while forecast of a timely monsoon continued to raise hopes that the central bank would lower interest rates in June.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex surged 191.68 points or 0.69 per cent to end at 27,837.21 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty rose 57.60 points or 0.69 per cent at 8,423.25.

Barring metal, auto and capital goods, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the green. Among them, IT index was the star-performer and was up 1.78 per cent, followed by TECk 1.51 per cent, banking 0.86 per cent and infrastructure 0.75 per cent. On the other hand, metal index was down 0.77 per cent, followed by auto 0.54 per cent and capital goods 0.29 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were HDFC 2.11%, Wipro 2.03%, TCS 1.82%, Tata Power 1.78% and HDFC Bank 1.72%, while the major losers were Bajaj Auto 2.22%, Tata Steel 1.85%, BHEL 1.51%, Coal India 1.17% and Hindalco 1.00%.

Foreign portfolio investors, key behind Indian stocks hitting record high in March, have bought cash shares worth nearly $300 million in the past three days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

They had sold about $2.5 billion worth of shares over the last four weeks.

Overseas investors had trimmed positions in Indian cash equities but it was still a favoured market, UBS said in a report, citing the feedback of 100 investors meeting it conducted globally

"Rupee and crude have stabilised and hence their is some comfort from FIIs," said Aneesh Srivastava, chief investment officer at IDBI Federal Life Insurance.

But the core of earnings recovery is still weak and that cycle may resume only in FY17, he added.

A report by SMC Investments and Advisors said: "Asian markets gained as rising oil prices and stable dollar pointing out stability in the economy whereas US markets declined from record highs amid weak earnings and confidence. Japan's gross domestic product climbed 0.6 per cent on quarter in the first quarter of 2015, the Cabinet Office said in Wednesday's preliminary reading.

That topped expectations for an increase of 0.4 per cent, and it was up from the downwardly revised 0.3 per cent rate of growth in the fourth quarter (originally 0.4 per cent). On an annualised yearly basis, GDP climbed 2.4 per cent - also exceeding forecasts for an increase of 1.6 per cent following the downwardly revised 1.5 per cent gain in the three months prior (originally 1.1 per cent)."

Global markets

European shares edged up slightly on Wednesday after rebounding strongly in the previous session, with the telecoms sector getting a big lift from deal-making and takeover talk.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.2 per cent at 0735 GMT at 1,609.40 points, holding on to Tuesday's gains driven by speculation the European Central Bank's bond-buying plan could be rolled out more aggressively than expected.

Asian shares slipped on Wednesday after a mixed day on Wall Street, though Japan’s better-than-expected economic growth lifted the Nikkei to a nearly one-month high.

The euro remained pressured by expectations that the European Central Bank would increase its bond-buying stimulus.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down about 0.1 per cent.

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