1 / 101. Asia: MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was barely changed at 522.38 points. Japan's Nikkei jumped 0.6 percent while Australian and New Zealand shares each added 0.2 percent. Asian markets have seen an impressive rally this year with the MSCI index climbing about 10 percent largely after the US Federal Reserve all but abandoned its rate hike plans. (Image: Reuters)
2 / 102. World: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 148.23 points, or 0.58 percent, to 25,702.89, the S&P 500 gained 19.4 points, or 0.69 percent, to 2,810.92 and the Nasdaq Composite added 52.37 points, or 0.69 percent, to 7,643.41. Wednesday's vote boosted investor optimism in equities market too, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index climbing 0.6 percent while London's FTSE 100 added 0.1 percent as sterling extended gains. (Image: Reuters)
3 / 103. Markets At Close On Wednesday: Benchmark Indices gained for the third consecutive session. The S&P BSE Sensex settled at 37,752, up 216 points, while the broader NSE Nifty50 ended at 11,341, adding 40 points. (Image: Reuters)
4 / 104. Crude Oil: International Brent crude oil futures were at $67.61 a barrel at 0054 GMT, up 6 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their last close. Brent touched $67.76 a barrel on Wednesday, its highest since November 16. US WTI crude futures were at $58.29 per barrel, up 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their last settlement. WTI hit a high of $58.48 a barrel on Wednesday, the highest since November 13. (Image: Reuters)
5 / 105. Rupee: The rupee closed at 69.53, up by 17 paise against the dollar on Wednesday. (Image: Reuters)
6 / 106. Dollar: The dollar eased on the inflation data with its index against a basket of major currencies slipping for a fourth straight day to a 1-1/2 week trough. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was last at 111.15. (Image: Reuters)
7 / 107. FIIs & DIIs: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 2,722 crore on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,508 crore on March 13. (Image: Getty Image)
8 / 108. Brexit: The British parliament on Wednesday rejected leaving the European Union without a deal, further weakening Prime Minister Theresa May and paving the way for a vote that could delay Brexit until at least the end of June. After a day of high drama, lawmakers defied the government by voting 321 to 278 in favour of a motion that ruled out a potentially disorderly "no-deal" Brexit under any circumstances. It went further than the government's position of keeping the threat of a "no-deal" Brexit on the negotiating table -- a stance many in her party said was essential to push Brussels to make further concessions to the deal they have rejected. (Image: Reuters)
9 / 109. General Elections 2019: Congress party will reserve a third of government jobs for women if it comes into power, its chief Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, in a sign women’s rights are rising up the political agenda for next month’s election. Over the last week, two powerful parties from eastern India said they would field women in a third of parliamentary races, putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other big parties to follow suit. (Image: Reuters)
10 / 1010. US-India Nuclear Pact: The United States and India on Wednesday agreed to strengthen security and civil nuclear cooperation, including building six US nuclear power plants in India, the two countries said in a joint statement. The agreement came after two days of talks in Washington. The United States under President Donald Trump has been looking to sell more energy products to India, the world’s third-biggest buyer of oil. (Image: Reuters)
