Sensex Ends Higher By Over 250 Points; Nifty Above 14,550

The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rate zoomed to an 8-year high of 7.39 per cent in March as fuel and power prices rose to 10.25 per cent and food went up to 5.28 per cent

The domestic stock markets ended near the highs of the day, amid a volatile session of trading, due to buying momentum in the last hour of trading. The BSE Sensex oscillated in a broad range of more than 800 points before ending at 48,803.68, higher by 259.62 points or 0.53 per cent and the NSE Nifty swung more than 200 points before ending at 14,581.45, up 76.65 points or 0.53 per cent. The BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap indices, however, under-performed their largecap peers to end virtually unchanged. On the economy front, wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rate zoomed to an 8-year high of 7.39 per cent in March as fuel and power prices rose to 10.25 per cent, manufactured products rates climbed to 7.34 per cent and food went up to 5.28 per cent. The last time WPI-based inflation had touched this mark was in 2013. In corporate news, the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart announced the acquisition of leading online travel company Cleartrip. The homegrown e-commerce marketplace will acquire 100 per cent of Cleartrip's shareholding in order to strengthen its digital commerce offerings for customers.