The Sensex ended the day higher largely lifted by a huge 10 per cent jump in Tata Motors. The Sensex closed higher by 145 points (provisional), while the Nifty gained 43 points in trade.

Among the notable gainers in trade apart from Tata Motors and the metal stocks were Gail, ONGC and ICICI Bank.

Nifty stocks that exerted pressure on the Nifty were Bharat Heavy Electricals, Asian Paints and HCL Technologies.

Wockhardt and Gitanjali Gems continued to remain locked at the upper end of the circuit filter. Mid cap stocks also rallied in line with the broad markets.

Banking stocks which saw a sharp recovery in trade on Tuesday ended the day higher despite higher then expected inflation data.

Banking stocks that gained in trade were State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank.

Stocks of oil marketing companies were in demand on reports that the government may announce a higher hike in diesel prices then the envisaged 50 paise a month. HPCL, BPCL and ONGC were all higher in trade on sustained buying support.

Mid cap stocks also had a good session of trade with Jain Irrigation, Steel Authority of India and Sun TV ending the day with gains.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia ended the day mixed with the Jakarta Composite, Japanese Nikkei and Strait Times ending higher.

Markets in Europe were trading flat with a slight negative bias.

GoodReturns.in