Metal and realty stocks led from the front in trade on Wednesday - a day that was marked with volatility, with India VIX ending nearly a per cent higher at 22.92 levels.
After a firm start that saw the Nifty50 reclaim the 12,000 mark, the benchmark indices succumbed to profit booking in the noon deals with the S&P BSE Sensex hitting an intra-day low of 40,150 levels.
After a rebound in the final hour, however, the benchmark indices settled higher at close for the fourth consecutive session. The S&P BSE Sensex was at 40,707 levels, up 163 points or 0.4 per cent with PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Steel ending the day as top gainers on the 30-share index. IT counters such as TCS and HCL, on the other hand, ended as top drags.
NSE's Nifty50, on the other hand, ended at 11,938 levels, up 41 points or 0.38 per cent.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index closed at 14,808.5 level, up 33 points or 0.23. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, on the other hand, closed at 14,900 level, up 5 points.
Among individual stocks, UltraTech Cement rose 1.8 per cent to Rs 4,630 on the BSE after the company reported robust operating margins at 27 per cent in September quarter, driven by both revenue growth and cost management.
Shares of metal companies rose at the bourses today on expectation of higher demand due to recovery in global economic activity, and China's infrastructure spend. Individually, Jindal Steel and Power and Tata Steel were up 4 per cent, while Hindalco, Vedanta, SAIL, NMDC, Coal India and JSW Steel were up in the range of 2 per cent to 3 per cent on the NSE.
Bajaj Finance ended the day 0.88 per cent lower after reporting a 36 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit at Rs 965 crore for the second quarter of FY21. The NBFC's total consolidated income grew 3 per cent to Rs 6,523 crore during the quarter under review.
Meanwhile, Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi today said that he sees no merit in increasing the 10 per cent investment cap on a single stock for actively-managed mutual fund (MF) schemes.
And, now a quick look at other top news.
The government, according to a Reuters news report, is reportedly working on the next stimulus package to support the economy amid positive signs of a fall in COVID-19 cases, a senior finance ministry official said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the Union Cabinet has approved productivity linked bonus and non-productivity linked Bonus for FY20.
Global markets
Global stocks and bond yields rose on Wednesday as Washington moved closer to agreeing a coronavirus stimulus package, pinning the dollar at its lowest for a month. The MSCI world equity index gained 0.1 per cent, buoyed by a half per cent gain for Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.
 "Market Wrap, Oct 21: Here's all that happened in the markets today")
