Benchmark indices ended the day sharply higher led by solid gains in Reliance Industries, which reported good quarterly numbers.

The Sensex ended the day with gains of 160 points, while the Nifty closed the day with gains of 37 points. Leading the set of gainers apart from Reliance Industries was Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma.

Shares in Infosys also rallied after reported that the company had acquired Noah Consulting. ONGC, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Larsen and Toubro and Hindalco were the other gainers in trade.

Kilitch Drugs on the other hand gained after it formed a JV in Ethiopia to set up pharma manufacturing unit.

Select midcap stocks also gained ground with Emami, Exide and IRB Infrastructure among the major gainers in trade.

Select PSU Banking stocks were weak in trade with Bank of Baroda, Union Bank and Syndicate Bank among the major losers.

Ultratech Cement ended the day with gains after its results matched expectations.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia ended the day mixed, while most of Europe was trading with good gains. The German DAX, French CAC and the UK's FTSE were all higher in trade.

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