"A lot of Nifty shorts had been built up and those were rolled over with merely a day left before expiry. The easing crude oil prices was another feel-good factor for the market," said Shailesh Kadam, senior derivatives analyst, PINC Research.
The Sensex ended at 16525.37, up 249.78 points or 1.5 per cent, after moving between 16217.78 and 16563.30. The Nifty closed at 4918.35, up 58.55 points or 1.2 per cent. Intraday, it moved between 4835.65 and 4926.90. The combined exchange turnover was Rs 188 billion compared with Rs 167 billion on Tuesday.
Gains in technology shares aided the market. Tata Consultancy Services was up over 4 per cent at Rs 1,009 and Wipro gained 3 per cent at Rs 508. Cement shares rose on hopes that the government's move to ease the ban on cement exports further is likely to enable the companies to maintain their operating margin, analysts said. Ambuja Cements was up nearly 7 per cent at Rs 104. Sun Pharma was up nearly 7 per cent at Rs 1,470 on defensive buying.
ITC ended over 6 per cent up at Rs 222 on a reported hike in the prices of some cigarette brands by 5-10 per cent.
Tata Steel rose over 4 per cent to Rs 903 on reports that Corus had raised steel prices. Tata Motors ended 1 per cent up at Rs 635.
