Mumbai: The Indian equity markets surged on Wednesday after a choppy initial trade with the BSE Sensex closing 995 points higher at 31,605.22 on the back of healthy buying in banking and finance stocks.

The Nifty50 rose 285.90 points or 3.17 per cent to close at 9,314.95.

The S&P BSE Banking index rose 7.31 per cent and the Finance index ended 5.64 per cent higher.

The Sensex had opened at 30,793.11 and touched an intra-day high of 31,660.60 and a low of 30,525.68.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, while the major losers were Sun Pharmaceutical, Ultratech Cement and Titan Company.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said: "Markets ended with hefty gains on Wednesday after a shaky opening that saw the Nifty dipping into the negative territory. Buying emerged from the lows of 9,004 to lift the index into the positive territory and close above 9,300."

Further upsides were likely in the coming sessions, he added.

On Tuesday, the Sensex had closed at 30,609.30.