Benchmark indices ended the day sharply higher after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady in its policy meet. Dovish comments by the Federal Reserve saw investors in India heavily buying into stocks on hopes that a delayed interest rate hike might see fresh FPI inflows into India.

Indices

Check Sensex gainers and losers

The Sensex ended the day with gains of 254 points at 26,218 points, while the Nifty closed the day higher by 82.75 points. Leading the set of gainers from the Sensex and the Nifty were banking stocks led by Axis Bank, which both jumped more than 4 per cent.

Other notable gainers in trade were public sector banks like State Bank of India, Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda.

There were very few losers in trade today including the likes of GAIL. Tata Motors fell after reports that Tata Steel would be selling shares of the company at a price between Rs 324.50 and Rs 338.05. FMCG stocks were also weak as investors shifted attention from safe heaven to risky bets including banking stocks.

Mid cap stocks also saw some buying traction with Crisil gaining a huge 9 per cent, while IRB jumped 7 per cent.

Meanwhile, markets across Asia ended the day with gains, while most of Europe was trading with huge losses. The German DAX and the French CAC were down almost 2 per cent in trade.

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