Mumbai, Nov. 19 -- Equity benchmarks finished with strong gains on Wednesday as a surge in IT stocks, fuelled by positive signals on the US India trade deal, lifted market sentiment. After a sluggish start amid weak global cues, the indices gathered momentum through the session and pushed the Nifty past the 26,000 mark. Investors now await tomorrow's FOMC minutes for clues on the US rate outlook.

The Sensex rose 513.45 points or 0.61% to end at 85,186.47, while the Nifty advanced 142.60 points or 0.55% to close at 26,052.65. HCL Technologies (up 4.32%), Infosys (up 3.74%) and ICICI Bank (up 0.82%) were among the key contributors to the gains.

Banking stocks also had a strong outing. Nifty Bank notched a fresh record high for the third s...