Mumbai, Dec 23 (IANS): The Indian stock market resumed its rally on Wednesday, backed by a healthy buying across the sectors led by IT and FMCG stocks.

Both the BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange surged around 1 per cent.

Positive global cues on reports that a Brexit trade deal could be struck soon supported the domestic market.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said: "Global cues were positive post the report that a Brexit trade deal could be struck soon. Besides, the stimulus bill in the US continues to offer support."

On the domestic side, Nifty revived after a weak opening to end near the day's high. Nifty IT index continued its winning run to end at another record high after Infosys and Wipro announced winning of mega deals.

"The positive momentum continued as the Covid cases in India are consistently declining while the economy is showing recovery month after month. However, emerging risk pertaining to new coronavirus strain made investors focus back on defensive sectors including IT, Pharma and FMCG," Khemka said.

Sensex closed at 46,444.18, higher by 437.49, or 0.95 per cent, from its previous close of 46,006.69.

It had opened at 46,072.30 and has touched an intra-day high of 46,513.32 and a low of 45,899.10 points.

Nifty50 closed at 13,601.10, higher by 134.80 points, or 1 per cent, from its previous close.

The S&P BSE IT index surged 2.34 per cent, while the FMCG index was up 1.99 per cent. Auto, banking and oil and gas also surged during the day.

Going ahead, the market is likely to be highly volatile till the concerns over new Covid strain subsides and the Christmas vacation gets over.

Khemka said that the monthly F&O expiry next week would further add to the volatility.

"Investors would track the Brexit deal for further cues which is expected to be finalised soon," he said, adding that the long term market structure remains positive.