Here are the key highlights from today's trading session:

1. Market closes higher for 4th straight session led by financials

2. Nifty gains 41 points to 11,938 after a trading range of 245 points

3. Sensex moves 163 points higher to 40,707 after 826-point trading range

4. Nifty Bank outperforms Sensex & Nifty, closes with a gain of over 1%

5. Nifty Bank advances 323 points to 24,635; HDFC Bank & ICICI Bank top gainers

6. Midcap Index ends with a minor gain of 42 points at 17,065

7. Reliance drags market while HDFC, HDFC Bank, Infosys & TCS lift

8. Bajaj Finance closes in the red but off lows as Q2 internals showing improvement

9. UltraTech gains 2% as earnings come in above expectations; profit doubles YoY

10. Colgate slips more than 2% despite reporting in-line earnings

11. Britannia falls for 2nd day after Q2 results; down more than 4% today

12. Market Breadth favours advances; advance-decline ratio at 1:1

Closing Bell: The Indian equity market ended Wednesday's volatile session on a higher note led by gains in metals, realty and financial stocks amid positive global cues.

The Sensex ended 162.94 points or 0.40 percent higher at 40,707.31 while the Nifty gained 40.85 points or 0.34 percent to settle at 11,937.65.

Broader markets ended mixed with Nifty Smallcap index ending 0.11 percent lower and Nifty Midcap gaining 0.25 percent.

Among sectors, Nifty Realty rallied the most over 4 percent followed by over 2 percent gains in Nifty Metal. Nifty Bank also surged over 1.3 percent. However, Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT, Nifty Auto and Nifty Media ended in the red.

PoweGrid Corporation, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Hindalco and GAIL India led gains among Nifty constituents while Britannia Industries, TCS, SBI Life, Nestle India and Hero MotoCorp were the top index losers.

Rahul Gupta, Head of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services:  The market sentiments are hinged on to the US fiscal stimulus negotiations. There is a potential for a stimulus bill but at the same time there is a lot of caution on the back of it. The subdued dollar index is keeping Asian currencies including rupee positive. The election event volatility is yet to begin and the USDINR spot is respecting the strong support of 73. Until it trades above that, prices will remain in between 73-73.60. Only a fall below 73 may drag prices towards 72.75, keeping 73.60 strong resistance.

Gold rate today: Yellow metal trades above Rs 51,000/10 gms; may face resistance at 51,500 level

Gold prices in India traded higher on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) Wednesday led by expectations of the COVID-19 stimulus package in the US and a softer dollar index amid a positive trend in the international spot prices.

At 10:50 am, gold futures for December delivery rose 0.14 percent to Rs 50980 per 10 grams as against the previous close of Rs 50910 and opening price of Rs 50950 on the MCX. Silver futures traded 0.57 percent higher at Rs 63483 per kg. The prices opened at Rs 63530 as compared to the previous close of Rs 63124 per kg.

“Gold and silver increased on the back of expectation of COVID-19 stimulus package before US election. Correction in dollar index also supportive for gold as a safe-haven asset. On the domestic front the physical demand of gold and silver increasing on festival demand,” said Anuj Gupta- DVP- Commodities and Currencies Research, Angel Broking Ltd. Read here

Interest-on-interest: Cabinet agrees to waiver on select loans; to cost govt Rs 5500 cr

The Union cabinet committee on economic affairs has discussed and agreed on a proposal for an ex-gratia payment of 'interest on interest' charged on loans for the six-month moratorium period announced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, sources told CNBC Awaaz.

According to the proposal, the government will pay the difference between compound interest and simple Interest. The ex-gratia payment of 'interest on interest' will be applicable for six months and only for selective specified loans, sources added.

However, as the matter is in the Supreme Court, the government will communicate the decision to the court first.

On October 14, the Supreme Court has asked the government to implement the decision to waive “interest on interest” or compound interest charged on loans of up to Rs 2 crore for the six-month moratorium period announced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As per the government affidavit submitted to the court, specified loans include MSME loans, education loans, housing loans, consumer durable, loans, credit card dues, auto loans, personal loans and consumer loans.

The government estimates a likely outgo of Rs 5,500 crore on the compound interest waiver.

Rupee Update: The Indian currency ended lower on Wednesday after the equity markets turned negative. The rupee ended at 73.58 against the US dollar as compared to Tuesday's close of 73.46.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services on Wipro buyback: Retail investors, looking for a short-term opportunity, can buy the shares of Wipro (up to the value of Rs 2 lakh - as on the record date) from the open market and tender them in the buyback offer.

"Based on the last two buybacks of Wipro and very low retail shareholding, we expect the acceptance ratio to remain high in the range of 40-60 percent which could give a potential return of 7-11 percent (pre-tax) with a time frame of 2-3 months (assuming one is able to sell the remaining un-tendered shares at the current levels of about Rs 340)," Motilal Oswal said.​

Stock Update: Ramesh Damani bought 1.46 percent stake equivalent to 49,04,640 equity shares in the September quarter, as per BSE shareholding data. The stock traded nearly 3 percent higher to Rs 383 per share on the NSE.

Prabhat Dairy's shares jump 20% despite SEBI pulling it for non-cooperation with auditor

Prabhat Dairy's share price jumped up to 20 percent on Wednesday after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) asked the company to deposit Rs 1,292 crore in a nationalised bank within seven days till the conclusion of the audit.

The stock gained as much as 20 percent to Rs 58.65 per share on the NSE. At 12:53 pm, the stock lost steam to trade over 8 percent higher to Rs 53 apiece.

The SEBI in July appointed Grant Thornton Bharat LLP as the forensic auditor to ascertain facts about the firm's statements for the financial years ending March 31, 2019 and March 31, 2020.

Last year in January, the company had sold its subsidiary arm Sunfresh Agro to Tirumala Milk Products for Rs 1,227 crore. In an exchange filing, it had informed that it would share a substantial portion of the proceeds from sales with shareholders after deducting tax liabilities and other related transaction costs.

The transactions, as per the firm's regulatory filings, were completed in April 2019. In September 2019, the firm said certain promoters intended to acquire a 49.9 percent stake held by the public shareholders and consequently voluntarily delist the company's shares from the exchanges.

After Thornton couldn't trace the proceeds of the sale transaction, SEBI alleged that the company and its promoters are not cooperating with Thornton for the forensic audit.

Equitas Small Finance Bank IPO subscribed 46%: The public issue of Equitas Small Finance Bank has seen a subscription of 46 percent on the second day of bidding so far, i.e. October 21. The Rs 518-crore IPO has received bids for 5.37 crore equity shares against offer size of 11.58 crore equity shares, the subscription data available on the exchanges showed.

Festive season offer: SBI announces up to 25 bps concession on home loan rates

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, has announced concession in home loan rates by as high as 25 basis points (bps) in order to offer homebuyers an enhanced festive delight. With this, SBI home loan customers would get an interest concession of 25 basis points for buying homes of above Rs 75 lakh based on CIBIL score and through YONO app.

"In an extension of its festive offers announced recently, the bank offers a credit score based concessions of up to 20 bps from 10 bps earlier, for a home loan of above Rs 30 lakh to Rs 2 crore across India," SBI said in a statement.

The same concession would also be applicable for home loan customers for a loan amount of up to Rs 3 crore in eight metro cities. An additional 5 bps concession for all home loans will be given if applied through YONO, it added.

SBI now offers interest rates starting as low as 6.90 percent for a home loan of up to Rs 30 lakh and 7 percent for above Rs 30 lakh. Continue reading.

Yash Gupta- Equity Research Associate, Angel Broking Ltd  

Strides Pharma Science Limited (Strides) today announced that its step-down wholly-owned subsidiary, Strides Pharma Global Pte. Limited, Singapore, has received approval for Ethacrynic Acid Tablets USP, 25 mg from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA). The product is a generic version of Edecrin® Tablets, 25 mg, of Bausch Health Americas, Inc. According to IQVIA MAT August 2020 data, the US market for Ethacrynic Acid Tablets USP, 25 mg is approximately US$ 14 Mn. The product will be manufactured at the company’s flagship facility at Bengaluru and will be marketed by Strides Pharma Inc. in the US market. This is a positive development for the company.

Hind Zinc shares rise 4% post Seotember quarter earnings

Gold rate today: Yellow metal trades above Rs 51,000/10 gms

Earnings impact: L&T Infotech shares rise 6% on strong numbers in Q2

Zinc prices to be firm; more dividends possible: Hindustan Zinc

Hindustan Zinc has guided conservatively to factor in uncertainty due to COVID-19, Arun Mishra, CEO at Hindustan Zinc said in an interview to CNBC-TV18. However, the company was confident of achieving the guidance of hitting the exit production run-rate of 1.2 million tonnes per annum by March quarter. Mishra said the cost of production could rise in this half of the year as the mines had to be prepared for higher volumes in the first quarter of next year. He said COVID-19 had affected mines globally and supply was limited as new zinc projects were not getting commissioned. He expected current zinc prices to sustain and said more dividends were possible as long as the company continued to generate solid cash flows. Watch video for more

Don’t worry, we will get our mojo back: HDFC Bank’s Aditya Puri

Talking about HDFC Bank’s business strategy, Puri said that the bank had been making continuous changes to its technology and strengthening its presence in the rural segment too. He said the bank was well positioned in semi-urban and rural centres, where 60 percent of the country’s population was. He expects 30 percent of the bank’s business to come from digital services and 30-35 percent from rural and semi-urban India. Watch video for mroe

Experts' View: Manish Hathiramani, Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments says, "The Nifty is trading around the upper end of the range 12000-12050. We need to get past the 12050 level in order to move to higher levels. We could target 12200-12300 once we have crossed 12050. The overall trend is positive with a good support at 11650."

Rupee Update: The Indian currency opened a little changed due to the positive bias in the equity markets. The rupee opened at 73.41 against the US dollar as compared to Tuesday's closing of 73.47.

Gold Price Update: Gold prices rose on Wednesday, propped up by a softer dollar and increasing hopes for a new U.S. coronavirus relief package ahead of the November elections.

Granules India Q2 net profit surges 71% to Rs 164 cr

Drug firm Granules India on Tuesday reported a 70.82 percent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 163.63 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, mainly on account of robust sales. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 95.79 crore for the corresponding period previous fiscal, Granules India said in a BSE filing. Consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 858.12 crore for the quarter under consideration. It was Rs 699.53 crore in the same period a year ago, it added.

Opening Bell: Sensex opens over 250 points higher, Nifty above 11,950; all sectors in the green

Indian indices opened higher on Wednesday led by gains in all key sectors as poaitive trends in Asian peers also supported the sentiment. Heavyweights RIL, HDFC Bank, HDFC, HUL and Kotak Bank contributed the most to the indices. At 9:18 am, the Sensex was trading 286 points higher at 40,830 while the Nifty rose 77 points to 11,974 per share. Broader markets were also positive with the Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indcies up over half a percent each. All sectors were also in the green with Nifty Bank and Nifty Fin Services leading, up over 1 percent each.