Rising for the second straight day, the market benchmark BSE jumped by 75 points to 28,298.13 -- its sixth rise in last seven sessions -- on persistent buying interest from foreign investors amid continuous fall in crude prices and Chinese market.
Pension fund manager EPFO, which started investing in the stock market from today too boosted sentiment.
Shares of consumer durable, capital goods, healthcare, auto and banking sectors firmed up on good buying enquiries.
"India is continuing to outperform other EMs led by additional support coming from the fall in crude prices and Chinese market," said Vinod Nair, Head-Fundamental Research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
Shanghai shares ended the day down 0.89 per cent.
Continuing its bullish stance on Indian market, foreign investors bought shares worth Rs 448 crore yesterday.
In an otherwise volatile trade, the benchmark index resumed better, but dropped for a while as profit-booking kicked in. But it quickly bounced back to hit a high of 28,359.96 and settled the day at 28,298.13 -- a gain of 75.05 points, or 0.27 per cent.
The gauge had gained 151.15 points in yesterday's trade.
The 50-share NSE Nifty after reclaiming the 8,600-mark ended up 20.70 points or 0.24 per cent at 8,588.65.
"... Trend in blue-chips continues to be good but interest is shifting more towards mid- and small-caps," he added.
The mid-cap index closed up around 0.38 per cent.
Brent crude for September was traded under USD 50-level in late-morning deals.
Among pharma stocks, Dr Reddy's climbed 1.79 per cent to close at Rs 4,270.10 after hitting an all-time high of Rs 4,325 after the company signed a marketing pact with US-based biotechnology firm Amgen to market its three drugs.
Other drug makers such as Lupin jumped 1.37 per cent, Sun Pharma rose 0.64 per cent and Cipla climbed 0.51 per cent.
Asian stocks ended mostly lower as jitters about China's economy and upcoming US jobs data kept buying appetite in check.
European stocks were trading lower in their early trade today.
