Stocks gain fresh momentum: Sensex closes 646 points higher, Nifty at 11,313

Equity benchmark indices reversed early losses on Wednesday and surged upwards, led by banking and financial stocks ahead of the Q2 corporate earning results.

At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 646 points or 1.72% at 38,178. The Nifty 50 wound up 187 points higher at 11,313. At the National Stock Exchange, all sectoral indices were in the positive zone except for IT.

Led by cheerful market sentiment, Nifty bank edged higher by 3.6% and financial service by 3%. But Nifty IT slipped by 0.7%.

Among stocks, Raymond jumped by over 10% intraday after its associate company signed an agreement to sell its property in Thane for Rs 700 crore.

Private lenders IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank moved up by 5.5% and 4.9% respectively while State Bank of India gained by 5.1% ahead of the festive season.

Bharti Infratel witnessed a gain of 5.3%, Bharti Airtel by 5.2%, UltraTech Cement by 4.9%, Mahindra & Mahindra by 4.3% and Tata Steel by 4%.

But Yes Bank was down by 5.1% at Rs 43.30 per share after the lender denied media reports saying it is in talks with three technology companies, including software major Microsoft, for a strategic investment.

Hero Motocorp, Titan, Zee Entertainment, HCL Technologies and ITC too were in the red with a loss between 1.2 and 2.8%.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were sharply lower as US-China trade frictions persisted even as officials from the two countries meet this week to work out a deal.

Japan's Nikkei slid by 0.6% in its biggest decline over a week while Hong Kong shares fell by 0.8% due to persistent worries about the often violent protest against China's rule of the former British colony.

Bombay Stock Exchange - BSE

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)