Heavy buying in financial counters led equity indices to close in the positive terrain on Wednesday after a highly volatile session which saw stocks of FMCG and oil marketing compes taking a beating.
The BSE S&P Sensex closed 232 points or 0.74 per cent higher at 31,686 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 65 points or 0.71 per cent at 9,271.
Except for Nifty FMCG and PSU bank, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty financial service up by 2.5 per cent, private bank by 2.4 per cent and realty by 1 per cent.
The shares of oil marketing compes declined after the Centre hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel, and asked them to absorb the price hike.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation slipped by 5.6 per cent, IndianOil Corporation by 2.4 per cent and Bharat Petroleum Corporation by 1.3 per cent.
FMCG major ITC cracked by 5.1 per cent to Rs 164.95 per share after reports said the Centre is reportedly looking to raise Rs 22,000 crore by selling its 7.9 per cent stake which it holds through the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI).
Hindustan Lever dipped by 1.9 per cent to Rs 2,001.80 per unit. The other prominent losers were Bharti Infratel, Coal India, UPL, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Cipla.
However, private sector lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank gained by 3.8 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively. Bajaj Finance closed 5.4 per cent higher at Rs 2,112 per share.
The other prominent gainers were GAIL, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp and Ad Ports.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets traded on a mixed note as investors fretted over US-China tensions. South Korea's Kospi gained by 1.76 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced by 1.13 per cent and the Shanghai Composite ticked up by 0.63 per cent.
( With inputs from ANI )