Benchmark indices closed on Wednesday at day’s high, extending their winning streak for the second session. The rally was powered by strong gains in banking and IT stocks.The market’s response comes ahead of the highly anticipated Federal Open Market Committee’s interest rate decision later.

At close, Sensex was up 654 points or 0.9 per cent at 76,555 and Nifty was up 206 points or 0.9 per cent at 23,163.

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On the NSE, 2,152 stocks gained, while 406 ended in the red. Barring Nifty FMCG, which dipped 0.4 per cent, the remaining 12 sectoral indices closed in the green.

Broader market outperformed the benchmarks, with both BSE Smallcap and BSE Midcap snapping a three-day losing streak and rising 3 per cent each.

Notably, the Nifty 50 extended its upward journey for second consecutive session closing above the 10-day EMA of 23,134 for the first time since January 3. The index opened higher at 23,027 and remained in an uptrend amid volatility throughout the session.

On Nifty50, the top gainers were Trent, Shriram Finance, Bharat Electronics, Tata Motors, and SBI Life rising 3-4 per cent while on the flip side were Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Aitrtel, Britannia, Asian Paints, and ITC dropping 0.5-1 per cent.

42 out of the 51 constituent stocks of the Nifty50 ended in positive territory. The gains were led by Shriram Finance, Bharat Electronics, Tata Motors, SBI Life, and Trent. Among the 8 stocks that ended lower were Bharti Airtel, ITC Hotels, Maruti Suzuki India, Britannia, and Asian Paints.

ITC Hotels shares made their D-Street debut today, following its demerger from ITC’s other businesses.India VIX, which measures volatility in the markets, ended up 2.44 per cent at 18.64 points.

Nifty IT index ended higher by 2.62 per cent, with gains led by Persistent Systems and LTIMindtree. Nifty Auto, Healthcare, Financial Services, Realty, and Banking indices ended higher by up to 2.91 per cent.

Among the individual performers, RailTel bounced back by over 4 per cent after the company secured a significant order worth Rs 17 crore for IT infrastructure projects.

TVS Motor gained more than 6 per cent in early trade after reporting a 4.2 per cent increase in net profit for the December quarter.

Bajaj Auto’s shares rose nearly 5 per cent following a positive reaction to its Q3 FY25 results.

Shares of JSW Energy plunged 10 per cent after the company reported a 27 per cent year-on-year decline in consolidated net profit for Q3.

Colgate-Palmolive India’s shares fell after the company reported a 2.3 per cent year-on-year decline in net profit for Q3 FY25.