By Chandini Monnappa
BENGALURU, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Indian shares extended gains to settle over 1% higher on Wednesday as a rally in IT stocks helped overshadow jitters stemming from the rapid spread of a new variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom.
The NSE Nifty 50 index .NSEI ended 1% higher at 13,601.10 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex .BSESN rose 0.95% to 46,444.18.
The Nifty Midcap 100 Index .NIFMDCP100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 Index .NIFSMCP100 rallied, adding more than 2% each.
Meanwhile, uncertainty around a U.S. stimulus package and fears of the economic impact of the new variant of the coronavirus weighed on global investor mood, although European stocks eked out gains on hopes of an imminent Brexit trade deal. MKTS/GLOB .EU
In Mumbai trading, the Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT closed up 2.36%, scaling a record high for a second straight session.
Infosys Ltd INFY.NS closed up 2.58% after signing a cloud partnership deal with Daimler AG DAIGn.DE , while Wipro Ltd WIPR.NS added 5.7%, following a $700 million strategic deal with Metro AG B4B.DE . Both stocks closed at record peaks. a market which saw some kind of correction, IT and pharma stocks are coming back in focus. IT is doing well on the (back of) strong deal wins," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal (NS:MOFS) Securities in Mumbai.
"In a short week, we have seen some high volatility due to negative global cues and we could still see some wild swings."
The Nifty Media index .NIFTYMED and the Nifty PSU Bank index .NIFTYPSU closed up 3.27% and 2.06%, respectively.
The Nifty Pharma index .NIPHARM closed the session 1.61% higher, led by a 4.35% rise in Biocon Ltd BION.NS .
Reuters on Tuesday reported that India is likely to approve Oxford-AstraZeneca's AZN.L coronavirus vaccine for emergency use by next week. however, said markets had already factored in the vaccine development news.