Closing Bell: Sensex Closes Above 35,700 Level, Nifty Settles At 10,858, TCS Stocks Jump

The market benchmark index Sensex closed 47 points, or 0.13 per cent higher, at 35,739 points. NSE's Nifty50 edged up by 14 points, or 0.13 per cent, to close at 10,856.7 points on Wednesday, leading to the third straight winning session as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) shares gained on hopes that the IT major would buy back shares. Among the Sensex stocks, maximum gains were posted by Dr Reddy (up by 2.77 per cent), TCS (up by 2.43 per cent), SBI (higher by 1.7 per cent), PowerGrid (1.43 per cent) and Infosys (1.41 per cent). The markets traded over 100 points in the morning hours.

The biggest Sensex laggards, however, were Tata Steel (2.12 per cent), Adani Ports (1.48 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (1.31 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.3 per cent) and ITC (0.7 per cent).

Among Nifty stocks, the biggest gainers were Dr Reddy (2.89 per cent), Cipla (2.62 per cent) and TCS (2.41 per cent). BSE IT index (1.29 per cent) led the gains on Wednesday followed by BSE Teck index (that rose by nearly 1 per cent) and BSE consumer durables (that rose by 0.61 per cent).

Strong monthly industrial growth data released on Tuesday accentuated the market sentiment. Industrial output grew 4.9 percent in April from a year earlier, spurred by higher growth in manufacturing and mining sector, while annual retail inflation accelerated to a four-month high in May, driven by higher fuel prices and a depreciating rupee, government data showed on Tuesday.

"There is still an undercurrent of optimism. Impact of inflation may not be so much but industrial output figures were decent, which is supportive for the markets," said Jayant Manglik, president, Religare Broking.

Globally, investors are waiting for the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision later in the day and any clues it might give on future rate increases that could alter the course of global economic growth and corporate earnings.

"We'll have to wait for the Fed decision to be announced and then perhaps we'll see some action," Manglik added.

Tata Consultancy Services rose as much as 2.3 percent after the company said it would consider a share buyback proposal on Friday.

Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries gained as much as 3.8 percent after the drugmaker said on Tuesday that supply restrictions imposed on its Halol plant by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have been lifted.

KEC International Ltd climbed as much as 3.9 percent after brokerage Macquarie Research initiated coverage on the stock with "outperform" rating.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel Ltd dropped as much as 1.9 percent and Idea Cellular Ltd fell over 5 percent after rival Reliance Jio, the telecoms arm of Reliance Industries Ltd, responded to Airtel's latest plan by offering more data to users.

(With Reuters Inputs)