Traders and investors unwinded long positions in equities ahead of the April 1, 2018 cut off date when LTCG tax of 10% on equities will be charged. The upward revision to the fiscal deficit target to 3.3 percent from 3 percent for 2018-2019 also dampened sentiment.

While the Sensex rose 69 points to 34,913,  Nifty was up 16 points to 10,757 level. IT stocks were the top gainers on Sensex with Wipro (2.09%), TCS (1.78%) and Infosys (1.63%) rising  in morning trade.

The Bharti Airtel stock closed 1.29 percent or 6.35 points higher at 499.15 level ahead of its Q2 earnings to be announced today. Meanwhile, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) is likely to buy Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) in a share-swap deal to become country's second-largest oil refiner.

A motley group of emerging infrastructure companies has seen rapid growth in recent years.

GMR Infrastructure today said its subsidiary GMR Airports has been selected to develop, operate and manage the new international airport in Heraklion, Crete island of Greece, in partnership with Greek infrastructure major TERNA S.A.

Indian benchmark indices settled the day at record highs.

The 14 IPOs since April were subscribed over 32 times on average. Those of RBL Bank, Advanced Enzyme Technologies, Quess Corp, Mahanagar Gas, Thyrocare Technologies and Ujjivan Financial were subscribed 40 to 82 times.

As many as nine firms, including Ujjivan Financial Services and Equitas Holding, have received markets regulator Sebi's approval in the first two months of 2016 to launch their IPOs to fund business expansion and meet working capital requirements.

IRB Infrastructure stock gained as much as 3.96 per cent to Rs 211.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Stocks of Sadbhav Engineering, Ashoka Buildcon and GMR Infra also gained.

The stock gained after the company raised $300 mn (around Rs 2,000 crore) from Kuwait Investment Authority through a 60-year foreign currency convertible bond. 

Indexes hit their lowest since November 18 as sentiment soured ahead of the US Federal Reserve's meeting next week, where it is widely expected to raise interest rates.

Shares of GMR Infra closed 4.85 per cent up after the company said it has raised around Rs 2,000 crore from Kuwait Investment Authority through a 60-year foreign currency convertible bond. 

Masala bond issuance could hit $6 billion in the year to March 2016, or near a fifth of external commercial borrowings from domestic companies, as per analysts.

The stock advanced as the company's consolidated net loss in July-September quarter narrowed to Rs 398.67 crore.

SH Kelkar made its stock market debut on BSE with a premium of 23% at Rs 222 against the issue price of Rs 180. The stock ended the day 15.16% up.

Apart from the choice of traditional EPC model, sharp focus on the segments, as well as a tight rein on costs, has helped these companies survive.