Oil marketing companies were the star performers today with reports that the government may increase the prices of diesel by Re one per month for the next 10 months. Shares of BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and Reliance Industries surged in trade today.

In fact, ONGC and Reliance account for a significant weightage in the Sensex. Other Nifty stocks that gained in trade were Maruti Suzuki, IDFC, HeroMotorCorp and Asian Paints.

IT stocks were the star performers today with ITC, TCS and Wipro amongst the gainers. Bank Nifty was the worst performer in trade today with banking stocks witnessing selling pressure. Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and Punjab National Bank were amongst the losers.

Pharma shares also ended the day in the red on profit booking with Piramal Healthcare, Lupin and Sun Pharma amongst the losers.

Shares of Multi Commodity Exchange Ltd rose after reports that the government notified the country's newest bourse MCX-SX as a recognised stock exchange

Bharti Infratel, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel which got listed on the bourses today lost heavy ground as investors dumped the stock.

Mining major NMDC ended higher despite reports that the proposal to set up a steel plant jointly by state-owned company and Russia's Severstal has been put "in cold storage".

Meanwhile, markets in Asia ended the day higher on strong buying support. The Japanese Nikkei, the Hong Kong's Hang Sang and Singapore Strait Times were all trading higher. Markets in Europe were trading flat ahead of a key decision in the US on the fiscal cliff.

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