Sensex ends at 49,661, Nifty above 14,800

Stock market indices, Sensex and Nifty ended higher Wednesday led across the board gains after the RBI kept policy rates unchanged but committed to a massive government bond purchase programme. 

BSE Sensex index leapt 700 points and hit the day's high of 49,900. The Nifty50, meanwhile, jumped nearly 200 points and hit 14,880 on the back of an across-the-board buying. 

Banking and financial stocks outperformed on Wednesday with the Nifty Bank, Private Bank, and PSU Bank indices settling higher in the range of 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent.

Global markets

Asian shares pulled back from a three-week high on Wednesday, dragged lower by Chinese stocks. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan was last down 0.1 per cent after Chinese and Hong Kong shares opened in the red. China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was down about 1 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.8 per cent.

That said, Japan’s Nikkei was a shade higher while Australian shares rose 0.6 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.3 per cent. New Zealand ended 0.7 per cent higher.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.2 per cent while the German DAX and France’s CAC 40 were flat. The UK’s exporter-heavy FTSE 100, however, gained 0.3 per cent as a weaker pound lifted the dollar earners.

(With inputs from Reuters)