Nifty hits 8,600 for the first time since November 01; Sensex up 350 points

The benchmark indices on Wednesday extended gains as banking stocks continued to rally on the back of robust quarterly results, while sentiment was aided by higher rollovers to February series. 

The S&P BSE Sensex rose over 300 points to trade above 27,500, while the broader Nifty50 reclaimed its crucial 8,600-mark.

At 03:06 pm, the Sensex was trading at 27,699, up 324 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 8,599, up 123 points. 

Broader market mirroed the gains in headline indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap rising 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,475 shares rose and 1,079 shares fell. A total of 222 shares were unchanged.

"Markets are generally getting excited about results declared by some finance companies as the numbers have not shown any major impact of demonetization," said Dipen Shah, senior vice president, public client group research, Kotak Securities.

Meanwhile, the Nifty rollovers for the January series stood at 55.48% till Tuesday's trade, compared to 55.77% on same day of the previous expiry, which is higher than its three-month average of 50.39% and its six months average of 54.18%.

Financials contributed to a majority of the gains on the indices, led by a 3% rise in HDFC. Indian Overseas Bank and Bharat Financial Inclusion rose as much as 5.71% and 7.82%, respectively, after reporting results late on Tuesday.

Biocon rose as much as 5.21% to its highest since January 12 after posting a 65% jump in third-quarter consolidated profit on Tuesday.

Crompton Greaves Consumer Electronics rallied 8% to Rs 185 after the company reported a healthy 39% year on year (YoY) growth in standalone net profit at Rs 57 crore for the quarter ended December 2016 (Q3FY17) on back of strong operational performance.

Among decliners, Bharti Airtel was the top loser and shed over 4% after the company on Tuesday reported its lowest profit in four years.