Indian benchmark indices staged a smart recovery in the last hour of Wednesday's trading session amid buying in information technology (IT) and financial counters.

The 30-share benchmark index ended at 40412.57 up by 172.69 points or by 0.43 % and then NSE Nifty was at 11910.15 up by 53.35 points or by 0.45 %.

Sensex touched intraday high of 40466.13 and intraday low of 40135.37 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 11923.2 and intraday low of 11832.3

On the sectoral front, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) gained in the fag end of the trading session on reports that the Union Cabinet has approved partial relaxation in norms governing Credit Guarantee Scheme to support the NBFC sector. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to address the media at 5:30 PM today.

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were NTPC Ltd. (Rs. 113.00,+2.77%), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 128.00,+2.28%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 759.95,+1.97%), Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1686.05,+1.62%), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (Rs. 2041.20,+1.43%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were YES Bank Ltd. (Rs. 42.80,-15.33%), Vedanta Ltd. (Rs. 138.60,-1.63%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 2296.90,-1.44%), Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (Rs. 1263.60,-1.21%), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 441.80,-1.17%), among others.

Among the sectors, Oil&Gas index was at 14708.19 up by 164.99 points or by 1.13%. GAIL (India) Ltd. (Rs. 117.25,+5.63%), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 126.10,+2.90%), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 128.00,+2.28%), Indraprastha Gas Ltd. (Rs. 417.05,+2.04%), Petronet LNG Ltd. (Rs. 275.10,+1.46%),.

_CGS index was at 16556.6 down by -138.93 points or by -0.83%. Elgi Equipments Ltd. (Rs. 247.20,-3.85%), Kalpataru Power Transmissions Ltd. (Rs. 410.25,-3.65%), Sadbhav Engineering Ltd. (Rs. 118.50,-3.46%), Havells India Ltd. (Rs. 635.45,-1.93%), Honeywell Automation India Ltd. (Rs. 25105.15,-1.42%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2908 , shares advanced were 1112 while 1561 shares declined and 235 were unchanged.