Market Closing Updates: Despite an increase in cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Sensex and Nifty50 in India rose on Wednesday, tracking gains in global markets. At the close, the Sensex added 611.55 points, or 1.09 percent, to 56,930.56, while the Nifty settled higher by 184.70 points, or 1.10 percent, to 16,955.50. About 2365 shares have advanced, 885 shares have declined, and 102 shares have remained unchanged.

Among the top Nifty gainers were Hindalco Industries, Tata Motors, Divis Laboratories, Bajaj Finance, and Eicher Motors. Power Grid Corporation, SBI Life Insurance, Wipro, Adani Ports, and IOC are the losers. All sectoral indices finished in the green, with auto, bank, realty, capital goods, pharma, oil & gas, power, and metal indices rising 1-3 percent. The BSE midcap and smallcap indices both gained more than 1 percent.

Elsewhere, European shares edged higher on Wednesday, led by gains in food delivery stocks, as concerns about the global recovery remained, despite an increase in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant. The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.1 percent, after jumping 1.4 percent the previous session to its best day in two weeks.

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