Mumbai

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended higher on Wednesday, extending their previous day's rally, on optimism over the India-EU landmark free trade agreement.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 487.20 points or 0.60 per cent to settle at 82,344.68. During the day, it soared 646.49 points or 0.78 per cent to 82,503.97.

The 50-share NSE Nifty surged 167.35 points or 0.66 per cent to end at 25,342.75.

From the 30-Sensex firms, Bharat Electronics surged nearly 9 per cent post its December quarter earnings.

Eternal, Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, Trent, Mahindra & Mahindra and UltraTech Cement were the other major gainers.

However, Asian Paints dropped over 4 per cent after the firm reported a decline of 4.83 per cent in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,073.92 crore for December quarter FY26 on a year-on-year basis on account of exceptional items as implementation of the new Labour Codes and impairment of loss in a subsidiary.

Maruti, Sun Pharma, Infosys and Bharti Airtel were among the other laggards.

India and the European Union on Tuesday sealed a landmark free trade agreement-- billed as the "mother of all deals" -- to create a market of two billion people with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the top EU leadership unveiling a transformative five-year agenda to largely leverage trade and defence in protecting the rules-based world order.

The free trade agreement that will account for almost a quarter of the global GDP will reduce tariffs on 99 per cent of Indian exports to the EU and cut duties on over 97 per cent of the EU's exports to India, according to officials.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,068.49 crore on Tuesday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) outnumbered them by buying stocks worth Rs 8,999.71 crore, according to exchange data.

"Indian equity markets closed the session on a positive note, supported by improving global cues and renewed optimism on the external trade front following the successful conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Union," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended higher.

Equity markets in Europe were trading lower.

US markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, dipped 0.62 per cent to USD 67.25 per barrel.

ALSO READ: India’s-EU landmark FTA to spur growth, jobs, increase New Delhi's relevance

On Tuesday, the Sensex climbed 319.78 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 81,857.48.

The Nifty surged 126.75 points or 0.51 per cent to end at 25,175.40.