The market breadth was positive, with 1,497 stocks rising compared to 641 declining. Seventy-four remained unchanged.

Among prominent gainers on the Sensex at this time were TCS, up 14.09 percent at Rs.494.70; Wipro, up 11.1 percent at Rs.477.05; Infosys, up 4.68 percent at Rs.1,954.30; and Sterlite, up 3.16 percent at Rs.606.20.

Losers included Reliance Infra, down 2.07 percent at Rs.1,126.15; Reliance Communications, down 1.83 percent at Rs.268.15; ITC, down 1.7 percent at Rs.226.10 and Hero Honda, down 0.86 percent at Rs.1,624.

In other Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed flat Wednesday at 9,395.32 points, up 51.16 points.

The Hang Seng, the primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, was ruling at 19,252.64 points, up 446.98 points.