The smile was back among investors as the benchmark indices staged a strong rally on short-covering even as buying was seen in beaten-down sectors such as financial and auto stocks.

Equities hit the right note from the start with the BSE Sensex showing a gap-up opening at 34493.21 compared with the last close of 34299.47. It later rallied to a day’s high of 34858.35 before ending 461.42 points, or 1.35 per cent, higher at 34760.89. The broader Nifty reclaimed the key 10400-mark. It hit a peak of 10482.35 during the day before finally settling at 10460.10, a gain of 159.05 points, or 1.54 per cent.

One of the reasons for the bullish sentiment was the State Bank of India’s (SBI) move to triple the purchase of loan portfolio from non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

The NBFC pack was the key highlight in Wednesday’s session with their shares zooming up to 16 per cent. The scrip of Dewan Housing climbed 16.08 per cent, while Shriram Transport Finance was up 13.18 per cent. Shares of Edelweiss Financial Services rose 9.99 per cent, Bajaj Finance was up 9.91 per cent and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services gained 9.79 per cent on the BSE.

It was also a good day for the rupee which snapped its six-session losing streak to end 18 paise higher at 74.21 against the dollar after the greenback weakened against other currencies, On Tuesday, the domestic unit had dipped 33 paise to finish at a fresh lifetime low of 74.39 against the dollar.